Homes For Students The Bridge

I stayed with the YMCA for just over week after graduating from university, I had an amazing time and I'd love to stay again.

The location is perfect, in the middle of town and right across the road from the station and in the opposite direction the friary, the high street and north street. The walk to university is very short and the bus station is so close if you need travel a little further.

My en-suite room was the perfect size and with two meals a day included it was amazingly priced and met all of my needs.

The Bridge Kitchen patio is one of my favourite places in Guildford with great food and an amazing view overlooking the river. Having breakfast out there in the mornings was a massive bonus.

The staff that work in the building are a credit to the overall YMCA and its mission. Every member of staff was helpful, friendly and welcoming. They made my short stay truly incredible and I wish I had lived there whilst I was a student.

My experience with the YMCA has been a mostly positive time. Any complaints I have had have been dealt with like the quality of food and the internet connection. The food is perfectly alright nowadays (though on occasion small things like vegetables being slightly under cooked can arise) and the internet speeds and connectivity are (atleast for me) quite exceptional. The staff are incredibly kind and very supportive. The price here is very expensive for a student, and I think I'm not the only one in thinking it could be brought down for us. Regardless, I have had a pretty good all round experience here as a student.

ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE. WORST MONTHS OF MY LIFE. Food is very bad, god poisoned several times, staff doing room checks at 2 am at night just entering the room, a resident entered my room with the universal key at night, I got attacked by a resident on the corridor, management team are very low quality people. Don't make the same mistake as I did.

I believe that YMCA Guildford is a very beautiful place to stay, which is not only located by the river side but also located in the heart. Staff pride themselves on whole heartedley doing what's best for the residents of all walks of life. Free WIFI and great food - some of the residents may not like it. But it's definitely healthier than eating at weatherpersons all the time! All we all know kids like to fuss; during my stay their Alot of the residents gave un-needed stress to staff simply because of missing home and growing up and such. But to me, with out the team at YMCA Guildford, I fear I would have never grown. Support is amazing their; great therapist and also safe guarding work is done with a heart not just paper work.

If you go the extra mile to be pleasant in your stay their; they will return with so much more than you put in.

Paul Napthine, Rebbeca, Becky, Samuel, Viveen, Tracey, Imelda, Rihannon, Ryan, Jackie, Jessica, Bridget and just everyone i've not met yet or can remember are truly stars of the the YMCA Guildford team.

This is my experience; It was amazing and i know people will share their negative comments just because they're not independent enough to think for themselves.

Thanks YMCA

Joe

Irresponsibly closed the dormitory during the pandemic, international students were forced to moved out within 1 week and became homeless, regardless of 30 days of notice period rule and government's regulation. Unable to do the spring term refund which hurting the rights of vulnerable students. Highly suggest not staying at this place because of the disorganized management and irresponsibility.

This is very different from the pictures; the price is way too high compared to what is being provided, and the facilities are below average. The team is uncertain about when the kitchen will be done and the food is becoming a problem as I eat halal and there are times when it is not available. The place is not as student homely as other private accommodations and I am very disappointed at this place I feel like I made the biggest mistake paying so much for this place. I hope they renovate the rooms and develop this place. I am not booking this room again and I honestly won't recommend it.

Have been in The Bridge Cafe many times and the food quality is outstanding and they have very competitive prices. Staff are also very friendly! I've been lucky to be able to have breakfast at the back terrace overlooking the river. Seems there's a lot of clients from local business coming to dine here. Fantastic location in the town centre also. In recent years I have only heard good things of The Bridge student accommodation. I understand the student rooms were fully refurbished only a few years ago as well as other common areas of the building. Having a look to their website the last day, they have a lot to offer, and the accommodation cost is very affordable for the area, as it also includes breakfast and dinner! Totally recommended and I encourage people living in Guildford to give a go to the new Cafe, and parents/students to enquiry about their facilities and availability, as it's usually booked up very quickly.

TL:DR

The bridge has great staff, a good diversity of tenants, the food is a mixed bag although it's halal so that's nice, very mediocre facilities, terrible management especially with their response to covid and some members of the café discriminate (not discriminat(ed), they haven't fired the chef to this day) and had the most disgusting attitude to certain tenants based on needs and beliefs.

For anyone thinking of living at the bridge, don't. It's not worth the money, the stress, the mental load you have to bare living there and certainly isn't worth the effort dealing with disgraceful kitchen staff. The only silver lining are the reception staff who are lovely and the other tenants but you don't get to meet them due to Covid restrictions.

There's vastly better accommodations for cheaper who have way better management and friendlier caterers. do yourself a favour and save an extra grand somewhere else.
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- The Bridge has okay facilities (regardless of Covid's impact on the accommodation.) The standard stuff like beds, desks wardrobes etc. the rooms aren't amazing, the communal kitchen was closed due to Covid so I can't comment there but it does the job I suppose.

- Very kind and accommodating staff which I believe was the best part of my experience here. They treated me exceptionally well and I'll never forget a single one of them and the conversations and lessons they taught me. They're the sole reason I'm giving The Bridge 2 stars and not 1. without them I'd rate them - 5 stars if I could.

- The food is not for some people's tastes, however I couldn't complain. I was glad that apparently all their meat is Halal which at the very least meant it was clean and ethical.

- The diversity among the tenants is great however especially with Covid's impact on the accommodation, all common areas or lack thereof were fairly small, only had a TV and were off limits to us because of the pandemic. This meant we couldn't even see each other in the same building...

- The manager's response to Covid was appalling. Seriously ruined the experience for not only the tenants but staff, café and maintenance. I haven't seen worse mismanagement of an establishment in all my life. Even with restrictions lifted and everything practically back to normal, the building remained in this lockdown state. couldn't go into other peoples rooms, couldn't have friends or family over, couldn't see others inside the same building?? That was the most depressing part of my experience here.

- The café staff were a mixed bunch. Most were nice HOWEVER one was incredibly vile; a terrible attitude, discriminated against me due to my beliefs and failed to cater to any of my or other peoples needs on a number of occasions to the point I was going to sue.