Student Blog Squad

House Hunting

When house hunting there are many questions flying through your head: who am I going to live with, how many people are going to live in the house, which company am I going to use, are the bills included? And the most important question, where am I going to live?

Leeds city scape lit up at night

Top student areas

There are many areas where students can live in Leeds and it is worth researching each area. The most student populated areas are: Hyde Park, Headingley and Woodhouse.

I decided to live in Headingley as it was close to the Headingley Campus as well as the stadium (which was where most of my lectures were this year).

Headingley life

The area is a student hub and there are small shops and bars around, like Sainsbury’s, Nandos, Manahatta, Greggs as well as cute cafes. Most of the cafes and pubs are student-friendly, so you can often get a student discount and usually the prices are already dirt cheap for us poor students!

Lots of students flow through the area as it is the start of the famous Otley Run, so the high street is usually bustling with students in the evening. The Otley Run is a pub crawl consisting of 16 official pubs, running from Far Headingley to the City Centre. This pub crawl is usually done in fancy dress and traditionally you drink a pint at every pub. There are plenty of other pubs along the route but there is only 16 that are officially apart of the route.

The area in Headingley where I decided to live is a family district so there aren’t many students on my street. This was ideal for me as it meant that I wouldn’t have noisy neighbours! It is a common occurrence in student areas to have noisy neighbours, so it is usually best to introduce yourselves to them, that way you will be on friendly terms.

Even though we are close to the stadium we don't have to worry about losing our parking spot on a rugby night as most of Headingley requires a parking permit to park on the street. The transport in Headingley is okay as there are plenty of bus routes running through the area to take you to the city centre which is a 20-minute ride away. As a student, you can get student rates on most buses which go to the city centre, which makes the trip quite inexpensive.

Do your research and find an area right for you

Overall Headingley is a good place to live if you are a student because of its transport links, local shops and pubs. Though if you’re at city campus it can be a bit of a trek, but it is a perfect location if your lectures are at the Headingley campus.

Once again, it is important for you as a student to do research into the different areas of Leeds to see what is most suitable for you as well as which companies you rent your house through as sometimes bills are not included in the rent price unlike with university accommodation.

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