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accommodationforstudents.com: Accommodationforstudents.com's Latest Research Reveals Top Towns For Students; Re-vamped No 1 website shows that northern towns and cities lead the way as best places to be a student(M2 PressWIRE Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) RDATE:13022009 London -- As A level students begin to seriously consider what university they wish to attend, accommodationforstudents.com (afs), the UK's No 1 studentaccommodation website, has just released new data which will help them in their quest. The latest afs research identifies the best places to be a student, based on over 38,000 student reviews from 66 university towns around the UK. Towns from the north, including Scotland, do best, occupying seven of the top nine places (see full table below). Sheffield, Newcastle, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundeeand Aberdeenshare the top score of 62%, along with Exeterand Brighton, the only top towns from the southern half of the country. In their reviews, students rated (out of 10) their university location across five criteria: going out (restaurants, pubs, clubs), shops (supermarkets, corner shops, book shops, video shops), transport links (buses, trams, train, underground), community (safety, student population, surroundings) and facilities (gyms, libraries, parks). Equal second with a score of 60% are a host of university towns in England, Walesand Northern Ireland: Swansea, Southampton, Preston, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Oxford, Liverpool, Leicester, Leeds, Cardiff, Bristol, Belfast, Bangorand Aberystwyth. Surprises in the table include Londonand Cambridgewith scores of just 56%. Pontypridd and Salfordwould appear to be the least desirable locations with scores of just 44%. The UK's No1 student accommodation website has just undergone a major revamp which includes attractive new graphics and improved functionality. Simon Thompson, co-founder and director of accommodationforstudents.com, said: "We have recently conducted focus groups with both students and landlords so that we can be sure that we are giving them exactly what they want. The website now has a fresh new look and is packed full of new functionality that reflects landlords' and students' needs. For instance students can now search for a property from any page on the site and can contact landlords with one touch of a button. However, our most exciting feature is just about to be introduced. Students are inherently lazy and so we have devised a 'reply back' service so students can deposit their requirements and receive daily updates on properties. How much easier can it get! Finally, our website gives students real added value in terms of useful information. Not only does it have the biggest database of properties and landlords, making it the easiest option for finding new accommodation, but it is packed with other useful information and guides, like the student reviews. Combined with our rental analysis, which provides invaluable data about the average cost and availability of student accommodation in over 80 locations throughout the UK, these are real aids to students making a more informed choice about their university and location." accommodationforstudents.com has over 1.8 million registered student users, receives over 475,000 unique visitors in peak months, and has students spending an average of over 7 minutes on the site per visit. TotalUniversityLocations: 66 Total Number of Reviews: 38259 City Going Out Shops Transport Links Community Facilities Score Sheffield 6 6 7 6 6 62% Newcastle upon Tyne 6 6 7 6 6 62% Manchester 6 6 7 6 6 62% Glasgow 6 6 7 6 6 62% Exeter 6 6 6 7 6 62% Edinburgh 6 6 7 6 6 62% Dundee 6 6 7 6 6 62% Brighton 6 6 7 6 6 62% Aberdeen 6 6 7 6 6 62% Swansea 6 6 6 6 6 60% Southampton 6 6 6 6 6 60% Preston 6 6 6 6 6 60% Portsmouth 6 6 6 6 6 60% Plymouth 6 6 6 6 6 60% Oxford 5 6 7 6 6 60% Liverpool 6 6 7 6 5 60% Leicester 6 6 6 6 6 60% Leeds 6 6 7 6 5 60% Cardiff 6 6 6 6 6 60% Bristol 6 6 6 6 6 60% Belfast 6 6 6 6 6 60% Bangor 6 6 6 6 6 60% Aberystwyth 6 5 5 8 6 60% Nottingham 6 6 7 5 5 58% Norwich 5 6 6 6 6 58% Lincoln 6 6 5 6 6 58% Lancaster 6 6 6 6 5 58% Hull 6 6 6 6 5 58% Guildford 5 6 6 6 6 58% Derby 6 6 6 6 5 58% Chester 6 6 5 6 6 58% Bournemouth 6 6 6 6 5 58% St Andrews 5 5 5 7 6 56% Reading 5 6 6 6 5 56% York 5 6 6 6 5 56% London 5 6 7 5 5 56% Coventry 5 6 6 6 5 56% Carlisle 5 6 5 6 6 56% Canterbury 5 6 5 6 6 56% Cambridge 5 6 5 6 6 56% Birmingham 5 6 7 5 5 56% Bath 5 6 6 6 5 56% Stoke-on-Trent 5 6 6 6 6 54% Worcester 5 5 5 6 6 54% Wolverhampton 5 6 6 5 5 54% Winchester 5 5 6 6 5 54% Sunderland 5 6 6 5 5 54% Stirling 4 5 6 6 6 54% Newport 5 5 5 6 6 54% Luton 5 6 6 5 5 54% Loughborough 5 5 5 6 6 54% Huddersfield 5 5 6 6 5 54% Gloucester 4 5 6 6 6 54% Colchester 5 6 6 5 5 54% Northampton 5 6 5 5 5 52% Middlesbrough 6 6 5 4 5 52% Durham 5 5 5 6 5 52% Stafford 4 5 5 6 5 50% Barnsley 6 5 5 4 5 50% Peterborough 5 4 6 4 5 48% Crewe 4 5 5 5 5 48% Bradford 4 5 5 5 5 48% Hatfield 3 5 5 5 5 46% Bolton 4 5 5 4 5 46% Salford 3 4 6 5 4 44% Pontypridd 3 3 6 5 5 44% About accommodationforstudents.com accommodationforstudents.com (www.accommodationforstudents.com) is theUK's number one No.1 student accommodation website, designed to provide students with one central comprehensive source of information on student accommodation. accommodationforstudents.comwas founded in 2000 by Simon Thompsonand William Berry. It provides a powerful search engine accessing a nationwide database of student accommodation properties across a number of criteria including geographical location, house mates and rent cost. The site also provides a notice board and chat room facility which allows students to interact with each other and discuss their student accommodation queries. The landlord admin suite allows landlords to directly upload and edit their property details and pictures on to the site for ease of communication with students. accommodationforstudents.comwas nominated for Best Use of Web in the 2005 and 2004 New Media Age Awards and was highly commended in the Best Industry Innovation category at the inaugural 2002 Property Business Awards. Co-founder William Berry also won the 2006 BT Essence of the Entrepreneur award for the site. CONTACT: Stewart Ross, Ross Media Relations Tel: +44 (0)7966 540 787 Tel: +44 (0)20 7381 9696 e-mail: [email protected] Simon Thompson, accommodationforstudents.com Tel: +44 (0)7808 714 068 e-mail: [email protected] ((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to [email protected])). Copyright ? 2009 M2 Communications Ltd. |