Welcome to Pembroke College!
Welcome to Pembroke College!
Pembroke College is located on Trumpington St and is a mid-sized college. There are a fair few Muslim students at Pembroke doing a variety of courses.
My name is Zeba and I’m a third year Medic. And I’m Mohammad (or Mo, there are many Mohammads) and I’m a second year Land Economist.
We’re the college reps for Pembroke this year so any questions ISOC, Pembroke or Cambridge-related you should feel free to ask us.
Pros
Pretty grounds
Central college (relatively close to town centre)
Everyone here is pretty friendly
We have a pretty good brunch
Cons
While the menu is accommodating to vegan and vegetarian diets, it's a little awkward with halal meat
Certain accommodation buildings can get cold due to the single pane windows.
Washing Facilities
Laundry in college is currently moderated on an app (JHC Laundry) where you can reserve laundry and dryer machines and pay with your card linked to the app. Prices may vary slightly but as of right now, the cost to run a washing machine is £2.20-£3.40 and a dryer 1.20-1.60. There are facilities in the basement of Foundress and the basement in O staircase within college.
Most hostels have laundry facilities that accept coins and it varies with machine as to how much that costs.
Prayer Space
There will be a new multi-faith room at the start of this year. It will be located opposite the Junior Parlour in N staircase (the old games room). I’m not sure if card access will be required since it’s a new space.
College also has a scheme set up for Jumma where they will pay for the trip to the Cambridge Central Mosque (CCM) to pray Jumma. You just have to mention to the porters that you wish to go to the CCM on Friday at 12:30.
Halal Food
College only serves halal chicken.
For formals you can request halal food and that will always be halal chicken and alternative sauces and desserts with no alcohol in it. You are always welcome to double check and ask if the meal you are being served is actually halal.
As for normal servery food, the college has vegan and vegetarian options for every meal. Now the official stance from Nina Rhodes (Head of Catering) on servery serving halal food is that they serve it on Sunday evening. If you are wishing to have it, I would double check with the staff just asking if the food is halal. College has been known to be pretty awkward with serving halal food and we’ve been trying for a while to try and make things better but this is what we have so far.
Fridge/Freezer Provision
Every kitchen should have a fridge. Freezer facilities are quite scarce in on-site accommodation, it really depends on where you end up because some buildings have better freezer facilities (for example, I lived in New Court my first year and there was a single shelf that I shared with 3 other people).
Hostel accommodation has really good fridge and freezer facilities.
Extra Info
There is a Pembroke Muslims Whatsapp group chat - if you’d like to be added, email either of us.
Ensuite
Ensuite accommodation is only available from 2nd year onwards in a few select hostels. If you email Becky Coombs prior to the ballot starting and ask for an ensuite for religious purposes, she will be more than happy to organise that.
First-year accommodation is all shared bathrooms and shared shower rooms. All rooms should have a sink facility to make wudhu in your room easily. As for the sharing of shower spaces, my advice is when you form your staircase’s whatsapp group chat, just be open and ask if the girls and boys can use separate shower room (most staircases have at least 2 rooms for you to use) - I just stated I don’t feel comfortable sharing as a girl and they were more than happy to accommodate.
Concluding Remark
InshaAllah this doesn’t scare you too much. Pembroke is pretty well known to be the friendly college and I would say that we live up to the name.
We can be a point of contact for any Muslims student if they wish but for more general queries that maybe we can’t answer:https://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/college/people/staff-directory
Signed,
Zeba, zjp22@cam.ac.uk
Mo, mk2164@cam.ac.uk