The votes are in! This eyesore is officially the ugliest UK uni in 2024

The people have spoken and they do not like concrete


Two weeks ago, we asked you to vote for the ugliest UK universities in 2024. Now, the results are in, and it’s not good news for Northerners.

Sheffield Hallam University is officially the ugliest university in the UK. Over one in five students who took the poll voted for it. The uni’s brutalist 1960s buildings (read: hideous concrete monstrosities) were not popular among students. What really gave The Tab’s readers the ick was Sheffield Hallam’s Student Union, which might well be the weirdest-looking university building of all time.

the sheffield hallam university students' union ugliest university in the uk

It’s not a looker, is it
(Credit: Chemical Engineer via Creative Commons)

The University of York is ugly enough to achieve second place. The main campus at York does have a few Instagrammable old buildings. However, Central Hall is so weird-looking, it gave students the ick. I still don’t understand who decided to build Central Hall, and what was wrong with them. It looks like an eight-year-old built it on Minecraft.

university of york central hall ugliest university in the uk 2024

Are we sure it’s not a reject set from a 70s sci-fi movie?

In third place is Cardiff University, with 11.7 per cent of the vote. Surely, there is no bigger proof that the arts are underfunded than the state of Cardiff Uni’s The Arts and Social Sciences Library.

Now over 700 of you have voted, here are all the ugliest UK universities in 2024, and what percentage of the vote they got:

12. University of Leeds – 3.2 per cent

11. Durham University – 3.3 per cent

10. University of Bristol – 3.9 per cent

9. Newcastle University – 4.6 per cent

=7. University of Sheffield – 7.0 per cent

=7. University of Cambridge – 6.0 per cent

6. University of Exeter – 7.6 per cent

5. University of Manchester – 8.2 per cent

4. University of Birmingham – 9.5 per cent

3. Cardiff University – 11.7 per cent

2. University of York – 15.7 per cent

1. Sheffield Hallam University – 20.3 per cent

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Feature image credit: Gregory Deryckère via Creative Commons, Chemical Engineer via Creative Commons and BCDS via Creative Commons. Images were cropped.