Pound-wise England : Cheap Dining at London School of Economics

The professor was in a dither. Someone at the London School of Economics had forgotten to schedule a meeting time and place for his next seminar. The students waited expectantly for him to make a decision, but none was forthcoming. He wondered aloud, absent-mindedly, what was to be done.

Finally, one of the students in the class suggested that he dictate to the group what his free times were, and the students could choose one.

He looked astonished at such a formal solution. “Oh, that’s not the way things are done at the London School of Economics,” he said.

The professor’s easygoing style perfectly matches that of the LSE and its dining facilities. This relaxed attitude extends to all of the school’s eating establishments, where the public is invited for a good meal at a subsidized price in a not-very-rarefied atmosphere.

LSE operates four cafeterias and two pubs in its school buildings. Its location near the west end of Fleet Street, a five-minute walk from Covent Garden and 10 minutes from Trafalgar Square, makes it an ideal stopping point for lunch, tea or a pint before the theater.

The biggest of the cafeterias is the Brunch Bowl, which is in the LSE Old Building on the fourth floor. In good weather, diners carry their trays out on the adjacent roof deck for some sun and people-watching. The students at LSE are from all over the world, and like the mishmash of the buildings’ architectural styles, they often stand in contrast to one another, both in dress and ideology. Grim-faced proletariats rub shoulders with Europe’s well-shod hip and bored. There are Africans and Asians, and lots of Americans. They’re the only ones wearing visor caps.

Not all the patrons are students, however. Some look like they’ve just emerged from a board room at the Bank of England. Maybe they’re here for the great coffee--the Brunch Bowl has a machine that individually brews each cup. It is a must before those afternoon lectures or museum tours. A self-serve salad costs about $2. Coffee is 55 cents. A steak-and-kidney pie or chicken pie is $1.55. An order of French fries is 90 cents. An assortment of hot dishes and desserts are available.

On the same floor, the PizzaBurger serves, as you guessed, pizza and burgers, as well as sausage rolls ($1.70) and other snacks. The burgers and fries come packaged like a fast-food restaurant. For freshness try a pizza, which will be made to order. Pizza starts at about $3.55.

My favorite is the Robinson Room, one floor below. You can pick up a bowl of soup and a chunk of fresh country bread for $2. A pat of butter costs 13 cents and a wedge of Stilton cheese another $1.10. Hot meals and salad bowls are available, as well as an excellent selection of desserts.

Downstairs and across Houghton Street is the Clare Market Building, in the basement of which is the fourth eatery, the Student Union Cafe. On your way there you will pass through the basement “quad,” the nearest thing LSE has to a leafy-green quadrangle.

Signs posted in the quad might seem a tad dated, considering all that’s happened in the past of couple years. One from the Socialist Workers’ Student Society proclaims: “Neither Washington nor Moscow but Independent Socialism.”

For the nonpolitical, a poster suggests the Cupid-like powers of the Seriously Hip and Gaming Society, ShagSoc for short. And for those with a less romantic orientation, Mr. A. Chavasse, a noted Immanuel Velikovsky expert and well-known catastrophist, will speak on “The Coming Catastrophe.”

If you have not lost your appetite, grab a bite at the Student Union Cafe, where the employees tend to be leftists but the veggie pizza’s really not bad. A good assortment of wholesome munchies can be had in a warehouse-like atmosphere with good music.

Or perhaps a pint of beer would taste better. The Three Tuns bar is just inside the entrance to the Clare Market Building. A beer-in-the-carpet smell confronts the patron first entering this student pub, but it’s a cheery place with a pool table and video games.

For $1.90 you can get a pint of Courage Bitter, provided you can get to the bar. A pint of Courage at the Three Tuns, also subsidized, may stand as the cheapest beer in London.

A more genteel environment can be found at the Beavers Retreat Bar, next to the Brunch Bowl on the fourth floor of the Old Building. It serves only snacks, but patrons are allowed to bring food from the Brunch Bowl inside as long as they have a drink.

The pub had a total make-over during the summer, and it has been turned into a cozy room with a marble fireplace and tomes such as “Man and the Social Sciences” and “Washington Journal” on the bookshelves. While sipping on your wine or glass of stout, you might hear fragments of conversation about the European Community’s common agricultural policy or revisionist Cold War history drifting through the wisps of pipe smoke.

For the budget-conscious traveler who likes a real ale, a pint of it can be had here for $2.45, which is 90 cents or so cheaper than outside the ivory tower. And that’s something the professor would not dither over.

GUIDEBOOK: London’s Low-Cost Cafeterias

The London School of Economics is on Houghton Street between the Aldwych and Kingsway near Covent Garden. Some of the school’s eating facilities have abbreviated hours or are closed during the summer. When school opens Oct. 3, restaurants return to winter hours. All places are open Monday through Friday only.

Brunch Bowl summer hours: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; winter hours: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. PizzaBurger is closed during summer; winter hours: noon-5 p.m. Robinson Room is closed during summer; winter hours: noon-2 p.m. Student Union Cafe summer hours: 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Monday-Friday; winter hours: 9:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Monday-Thursday, and 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday. The Three Tuns bar summer hours: noon-2:30 p.m. and 5-7:30 p.m.; winter hours: noon-3 p.m., 5-11 p.m. The Beavers Retreat Bar summer hours: noon-2 p.m., 5-7 p.m.; winter hours: noon-2:30 p.m, 5-9 p.m.

For more information: Call the London School of Economics at 071-405-7686 (in London).