Royal Holloway Halls of Residence: A Guide to Campus Accommodation

Royal Holloway, University of London sits on a 135 acre parkland campus in Egham, Surrey, between Windsor and Heathrow. Almost all of its accommodation is on that campus, which is unusual and genuinely useful: for most students, the walk from your hall to your first lecture is a matter of minutes. This is a plain guide to the halls - which are catered, which are en-suite, where they sit, and how to find them.

By Hasseeb Hussain, founder of RHUL Mobile.

The short version

• Almost everything is on campus. The one off-campus option is Hox Park, which has its own bus.
• Two catered halls: Founder's and Reid. Everything else is self-catered with full shared kitchens.
• Most halls are en-suite. Founder's, George Eliot and Penrose Court have shared bathrooms instead.
• The academic core is central. The halls village and the older halls are all a short walk from lectures; Penrose Court is the closest.
• Every hall is pinned on the campus map in RHUL Mobile, with walking directions to the door.

One thing to set straight before we go further: prices, room types and even which halls are open change from year to year. Take the details below as a picture of how the halls are set up, not a quote. Always check the official Royal Holloway accommodation pages for the current year's prices and availability before you apply.

Catered or self-catered?

Royal Holloway runs two catered halls, Founder's and Reid. Catered here does not mean three set meals a day. The rent covers one meal a day plus a weekly catering allowance you spend across the campus food outlets, and catered rooms have a small pantry rather than a full kitchen. The exact weekly allowance changes each year, so check the current figure on the official pages.

Every other hall is self-catered, with proper shared kitchens where you cook for yourself. Self-catered halls are usually a little cheaper on rent and give you full control over what and when you eat. If you have never cooked much, catered takes the pressure off in first year; if you would rather manage your own food and budget, self-catered is the norm at Royal Holloway and nothing to worry about.

The on-campus halls

Most of the halls cluster in and around what students call the halls village, on the western side of campus, with the older halls closer to the historic centre. Here is the current on-campus set and how each one is set up:

• Founder's - catered, shared bathrooms. You live inside the iconic Grade I listed Founder's Building, the huge white Victorian building opened by Queen Victoria in 1886. It sits at the dead centre of campus, so nothing is a long walk. The trade-off for the setting is shared bathrooms rather than en-suites.
• Reid - catered, en-suite. Central and close to the academic buildings, and the en-suite catered option if you want both.
• Runnymede - self-catered, en-suite. On campus, a short walk from lectures.
• Gowar - self-catered, en-suite. Part of the halls village, roughly 5 to 10 minutes from the academic core.
• Wedderburn - self-catered, en-suite. Sits alongside Gowar in the halls village.
• Williamson - self-catered, en-suite. Halls village, same short walk in.
• Tuke - self-catered, en-suite. Halls village.
• Butler - self-catered, en-suite. Halls village.
• George Eliot - self-catered, shared bathrooms. On campus, a short walk to lectures, with bathrooms shared between a small number of rooms rather than en-suite.
• Penrose Court - self-catered, shared bathrooms (rooms have their own sink). The closest hall to the academic core, roughly three minutes from Founder's.
• Highfield Court - self-catered, en-suite. On the northern edge of the main campus, a short walk in.

Some halls also offer single-sex or alcohol-free options, and Founder's in particular has several room grades (single, shared and larger rooms) that sometimes appear as if they were separate halls. If a specific arrangement matters to you, filter for it in the application rather than assuming.

En-suite or shared bathrooms?

Most Royal Holloway halls are en-suite: Reid, Runnymede, Gowar, Wedderburn, Williamson, Tuke, Butler and Highfield Court all give you your own bathroom. The exceptions are Founder's (shared, part of the deal for living in the historic building), George Eliot (bathrooms shared between a small number of rooms) and Penrose Court (shared bathrooms, though the rooms have their own sink). En-suite costs a bit more on rent; shared saves money and, in Founder's case, buys you the building.

Off campus: Hox Park and the bus

Hox Park is the one option that is not on the main campus. It is a self-catered, en-suite development around 1.5 to 2 miles away, so roughly a 20 minute walk. What makes it workable is the bus: the RHU service, run by Diamond, links Egham Station, the campus and Hox Park, and the Hox Park to campus leg takes about 7 minutes. It runs from early morning to gone midnight, and the daytime campus legs are free to students. If you want more space and do not mind the short hop in, Hox Park is often the cheaper choice.

The RHU bus, and the RH2 between campus and Huntersdale, are both tracked live in RHUL Mobile's bus times feature, so from Hox Park you can see exactly when the next bus is leaving rather than standing at the stop guessing.

Where the halls sit, and how to find them

The whole campus is about 12 to 15 minutes end to end on foot, so wherever you end up, you are not far from anything. The academic buildings, the Emily Wilding Davison Building (the library and its 24/7 reading room), the Hub and the Students' Union all sit in the central and eastern part of campus, with most halls to the west and south. Penrose Court and Founder's are the closest to that academic core; the halls village is a five to ten minute walk in; Highfield sits on the northern edge.

Every hall is pinned on the campus map in RHUL Mobile with its main entrance marked, and the map gives real walking directions over the campus footpaths from wherever you are standing. It works offline, which matters on move-in day when the network is busy and you are trying to find your hall reception with your arms full of boxes. The official Royal Holloway PDF map shows where buildings are but does not route you; the app does.

What about Kingswood?

You will still see Kingswood mentioned in older guides and forum posts. It was the furthest hall, about a mile off campus toward Englefield Green, and it was catered. It closed in May 2023 and the site is being sold, so it is no longer an accommodation option. If a guide is still offering it to you as a current hall, that guide is out of date.

Prices and availability change every year

Weekly rents at Royal Holloway are set per academic year and move annually, room grades come and go, and whole halls occasionally open or close (Kingswood being the obvious recent example). Nothing in this guide is a price quote. Use it to understand how the halls differ - catered or self-catered, en-suite or shared, central or off campus - then check the official Royal Holloway accommodation pages for the exact prices, room types and availability for the year you are applying for.

Once you know where you are living, the campus map will walk you from your hall to any building, and the live bus times cover the Hox Park and Huntersdale runs. Both work from the day you arrive.