Accommodation

Pembroke is centrally located and almost 400 years old. Over the years the site has been adapted to provide safe, accessible spaces to suit our students' diverse needs, blending the traditional with the modern.

You'll be looked after by our friendly and experienced College Scouts who keep the College clean, as well as being a friendly face in your Staircase (building). You can expect communal areas cleaned and your bins to be emptied daily during the week.

If you have any concerns about your needs whilst living with us you can get in touch with one of team.

Pembroke College complies with the Universities UK Code of Practice for the Management of Student Housing, which lays down an agreed set of standards for student accommodation and is subject to periodic external audit.

All first-year students live on main site in fully furnished bedrooms. We have a mix of shared bathroom or en-suite bedrooms and our offerholders are asked their preference before they arrive. 

First years take catered contracts (see our Catering information for full details) and are in residence during term times only - although if you have an academic or compassionate reason for needing to stay out of term we will make arrangements for you (during the covid pandemic students who were unable to go home stayed in College, even having Christmas Day dinner in Hall, the first time it was served there in living memory!).

If you have questions or concerns just contact the team or attend one of our open days where you can speak to our students and ask any questions you may have about college life

For your later years you can request to stay on main site or at our Sir Geoffrey Arthur Building (GAB). Our accommodation team go to great lengths to make sure that you can request rooms near your friends, giving you the best of both worlds - convenience of College living with a choice of housemates!

Students who stay on the main site take a term-time catered contract, but have a flexible spend option for use in Farthings as well as Hall. If you choose the GAB those rooms are self-catering and available for the whole academic year, so you don't have to vacate during Christmas or Easter breaks.

Some students do of course choose to live out, and others will spend one year of their course abroad if studying languages. The choice is yours, but the option is there for you to take three years at least in College accommodation: those on four year courses can request an extra year and will be considered, subject to availability.

Rooms are band priced according to their size and facilities and every year you are asked to choose. In a usual year more than 88% of our students are allocated their first preference room type. We have a fixed nightly utilities rate which is charged on top of room cost.

Please find our accommodation rates for the 2022/23 academic year here:

First Years

Returners

We are making changes to the way we allocate and charge for rooms in response to student feedback. Under the new system, undergraduate Freshers will by default be allocated a Standard room, with its own basin and a shared bathroom. Students can opt to ballot for a single or double en-suite room, and we will try where possible to meet your preferences.