Lily Wallen speaks with students from past and near-present and asks what’s next for Fallowfield
“That sense of a special time and place is something you take through your life,” reflected BBC journalist Ben Gallop on his year in Oak House from 1986-87.
Owens Park, with its 19-storey tower, and Oak House were built on the University of Manchester’s Fallowfield Campus in 1964 and 1973, respectively, and have since gained an outsized reputation as Manchester’s - if not England’s - most iconic university halls.
Ben’s words echo a movement of elegiac reflections from current students and alumni following the announcement that Oak House and Owens Park will be demolished to make way for 3000 new student beds under the Fallowfield Residences Redevelopment Programme (FRRP).
A centre of student culture, maker of student news, and, more recently, the subject of much social media attention, Owens Park’s omnipresence on the otherwise largely towerless South Manchester skyline was a North Star for University of Manchester students, guiding them back to the land of milk and honey and £3 pints.
But as with all icons, opinions differ. As the city grapples with a growing student accommodation crisis that has seen the private rental market flood Fallowfield’s housing stock, many permanent residents of the area are less romantic about the brutalist tower that housed hundreds of students year on year. News of even more student beds replacing it hasn’t helped.
What of this monolith of the South Manchester skyline then, and when did its almost mythical reputation begin?
The Genesis
It’s September 1986. The Hacienda starts playing house music, MDMA hits Manchester’s nascent rave scene, and Ben Gallop, a History and Politics student from South-West London, moves into Oak House.
Talking to me today, Ben’s reverence for the student accommodation that housed him nearly 40 years ago resonates with me, having once also been a starry-eyed teen moving into Oak House. But in my case it was only a matter of years ago.
“Having all those like-minded people, of the same age, in the same place was just off the scale. That hedonism is a one off and you cherish it,” said Ben.
But surely any student accommodation full to the brim of 18–20-year-olds would supply a similar level of camaraderie. I ask, interested to find out what made Fallowfield so special then, was it already the house party mecca it’s known as today?
“It definitely had that party association then, and Oak House was an adventurous place, but music was the decisive factor for me. You had New Order, The Buzzcocks and The Smiths were at their peak when I went to uni. So, it was already buzzing but I massively lucked out because the Madchester scene started the year I arrived in Manchester.”
Ben describes Fallowfield and its student inhabitants as servants to Manchester’s cultural vibrance through the 80s: “I still revel in that. All these years on I still look back to my years at university coinciding with the cultural rise of Manchester as so special. We’d go to student nights at the Hacienda on a Tuesday, it was surreal.”
If the Madchester scene was the beating heart of the city’s newfound creative dynamism, then Fallowfield was a vital artery, pumping student after student into the coolest clubs, live music venues, and record shops.
But there was also a simple magic to Fallowfield: “I was there the year the McDonalds opened up, so we were all obsessed with that. There were loads of kebab shops. The pubs were amazing. And God the busses were great too.”
Decades change but student desires stay the same.
Speaking with Ben makes it clear that the foundations of Fallowfield’s mythos were laid during his time. The party-first ethos that defined Oak House and Owens Park for decades owes everything to those inimitable years that united music and nightlife into an identity.
Fast forward to the 2020s
Owens Park Tower closed its doors to students in 2019, with its surrounding ground-floor buildings remaining open until 2021. Oak House, meanwhile, houses students indefinitely. By now, the tower’s reputation has outlived its utility, typifying the raucous and unvarnished realities of the university experience - even for students who never saw it operational.
“I just loved it there,” nostalgically sighed Olivia O’Mara, resident of Owens Park’s ground floor flats during its final year of use. “The living conditions were pretty bad, but that’s what united us. Plus, it meant we could throw as many parties as we wanted.” Of the disused Tower, she added: “We joked it was watching over us like a protective parent, because we could see it from everywhere we went. It was symbolic, and students even broke into it to throw parties.”
A heady mix of legend and filth, Owens Park and Oak House have provided generations of students with enough anecdotal fodder to take on the world. From Olivia I also gauge that their decrepit state allows rent-paying students access to an exclusive club, those that have suffered at the hands of poor digs.
Of course, students could spend £207 a week for a room in Fallowfield’s more contemporary Unsworth Park, but en-suites and rents over two hundred pounds symbolise a tepid attempt at first year. Cinder block walls, the risk of damp, and guaranteed parties every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday on the other hand? That’s where a person is made.
But for many it’s hard to overcome the dank conditions.
Anika, a 19-year-old Computer Science student currently living in Oak House, shared her thoughts. “It’s good,” she said tentatively. “Actually, I’ve just had to complain about the mould. A massive block of black mould down the side of my window. It’s really damp.
“The social side of Oak House is good, but I kind of regret picking it,” she admitted. “I’d definitely pay more for a refurbished room.” Anika pointed to Richmond Park, another neighbour of Oak House, as an ideal middle ground: “Not ridiculously expensive but better conditions.”
Here lies why Oak House remains a popular choice even for those disillusioned by its state - it’s cheap, pretty much inflation-resistant. In 2021, I paid £108 per week for a room in Oak House. Today, students tell me it’s increased by a mere £5.
In a city with a dire student bed shortage - where students were relocated to Liverpool two years ago - a budget-friendly hall like Oak House is a rarity that’s hard to overlook.
Nostalgia is nice, but a mould free bedroom is nicer
Wandering around my old stomping ground and speaking with current residents of Oak House, it’s clear the overdue refurbishment of Owens Park and Oak House reflects a broader issue: Manchester’s quiet crisis of student accommodation that’s been unfolding for over a decade.
The crux of the problem is a severe shortage of student beds, driven by Manchester City Council’s Policy H12, part of its 2012 Core Strategy. This policy limited the delivery of privately funded Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) to maintain a “dynamic residential market”. However, the approach backfired.
Between 2018 and 2023, only 4,745 student beds were delivered citywide, while demand surged by 8,100. According to PBSA News, this leaves Manchester with a stark 2.5:1 student-to-bed ratio. With few affordable PBSA options available, the growing student population remains reliant on outdated, university directed halls of residence like Oak House, which have long outlived their prime.
University isn’t fun for everyone
In the absence of sufficient PBSA, the private rental market has absorbed much of the bed demand, flooding student-heavy areas of South Manchester with rented properties.
Ruth, a permanent resident of the area who moved into her late father’s Rusholme house, shared her frustrations: “90% of the street has now been bought by private landlords and let to students, including the house next to mine. It’s mostly fine, but last year’s neighbours were abusive and rude - they really let us down.”
But Ruth was clear about where her judgements lay: “I’m not knocking students because going to uni is great and I can see they really enjoy Manchester. But the estate agent that’s running the property next door? I wouldn’t pay them in washers. They get paid for doing nothing. The bins are overflowing, the rats are jumping everywhere. They’re all just developers that don’t care”
It’s tempting to pit students against permanent residents as adversaries in contested areas like Fallowfield. However, as Ruth speaks to, the issue lies in poor planning rather than an inherent hostility between students and their neighbours.
A failure to adapt
Policy H12 has prevented efficient developments across a broader range of areas from absorbing the surge in Manchester’s student population, concentrating the burden on South Manchester’s outdated halls of residence, like Oak House and Owens Park, as well as the area’s characteristic red brick terraces.
For too long Manchester tacitly benefitted from its cultural vibrance, drawing students in their hundreds of thousands without fully considering the impact on housing and social cohesion. This is vividly portrayed through the homogeneity of Fallowfield’s high street - there’s only so much burger consuming and vaping a local economy can take.
Time for change
The University of Manchester agrees.
Alexandra Baynes, Union Affairs Officer at the University of Manchester Student Union and member of the Residences Programme Board which has ultimate authority over the FRRP, tells Confidentials: “Fallowfield has built a certain reputation: one of late-night economy, cheap fast food, drink deals from off-licences, and a slightly run-down image. While this has an undeniable charm to many students - and is the subject of a lot of social media attention - it can't be like this forever.”
Asked about the importance of FRRP in amending Manchester’s student bed shortage, Baynes responded: “It's no secret that this project should have started many years ago - the bulldozers should have been out in the 2010s! Only 42% of UoM's current accommodation portfolio is rated as meeting ‘good condition standards.’”
She continued that “Manchester's student accommodation has been lagging behind for years. FRRP is a chance to fix this.”
But many permanent residents, and indeed local councillors who deferred last January’s plans for an earlier demolition, are concerned that while 3000 new and improved student bedrooms will alleviate Manchester’s student bed shortage, it will also worsen social issues in Fallowfield.
To this Paul Uncles, Director of Sport, Trading and Residential Services at University of Manchester responded: “There will be a team on site to always deal with noise complaints or antisocial behaviour. Students who fall short of expectations will face the university’s disciplinary process.”
He continued: “We review demand in terms of new student intake every year and we have an accommodation portfolio that’s managed to meet that demand every year.” Students shipped off to Liverpool two years ago might disagree.
Manchester’s student future
Nevertheless, the eventual approval of FRRP marks a new era of council-driven investment into student housing, bolstered by their reassessment of Policy H12 which concluded that, while it is still relevant, greater flexibility must be afforded to PBSA developers on account of Manchester’s imbalanced student to bed ratio.
Information accompanying the University’s consultation page on the redevelopment explained the plans for the site.
It read: “The proposed development involves the major redevelopment of Owens Park, Oak House and Woolton Hall to meet the increasing demand for student bedrooms in inclusive, safe and sociable surroundings. Located near to the University’s main buildings, the site is well-connected and provides students with a wide range of support services to ensure a unique and exceptional student experience.
“On completion, the wider Fallowfield Campus will offer up to 5,400 student beds by replacing the existing, older accommodation on site and delivering 3,300 updated bedspaces to meet the growing demand for high-quality, modern bedrooms across the popular campus.”
Student-heavy areas don’t have to perform the way Fallowfield currently is. Manchester is a jewel in Britain’s sparkling higher education crown, one of our few globally competitive industries, and the FRRP is the first outcome of a legislative shift that will enable Manchester’s annual influx of upwardly mobile students to better integrate into existing communities.
Now, plans for new PBSA are emerging citywide. For instance, property developer Manner plans to convert the old Hotspur Press mill into 595 student beds, while Soller Group is transforming the vacant Barclays bank at the corner of Oxford Road into a 20 apartment PBSA scheme.
Manchester’s student economy has long been overdue a shakeup. So bid farewell to Owens Park, a special place in time for many.
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