Study Space

You asked about alternative study space near Conway Hall

- Heather answers,

"Most of these are coffee shop style areas (a fair few are tried and tested by myself during my masters a few years ago!)

• Royal Festival Hall - various study friendly spots in the building, free wifi 
• Imax - Benugo coffee house - on the Lower Ground floor at the Imax
• Oasis Hub Coffee House -Kennington Road (a coffee house situated inside a church building - so there is lots of space, can get busy at lunch times but tends to be quieter in the morning or afternoons, free wifi) 
• BFI - Benugo coffee house/kitchen (big sofas and comfy seating, not a lot of table space but you can sit there a long time with one coffee without being moved on, free wifi ) 
• Waterloo Library on Lower Marsh 
• Costa - Kennington Road - A fairly quiet coffee house (by Costa's standards)" 

Miss Alice adds:

"Just around the corner from the London Centre, you’ll find the Westminster Reference Library, with three floors of study space as well as specialist collections in art, theatre, law and business.

Further afield, try the Bishopsgate Library, to study in a beautiful Victorian reference library surrounded by hundreds of books on London , or the Guildhall Library, which may be less beautiful than the 15^thCentury Guildhall it sits alongside, but offers plentiful study space, and a rich London-focussed collection.

For non-Library options, you could break out the books in the British Museum’s Great Court, or make revision a pleasure with tea and cake at YumChaa on Berwick Street, where they have a capacious basement area, or a book shop cafe - maybe the Cafe at Foyles, or closer to home, the Costa upstairs in Waterstones on Trafalgar Square."

* Photo by Auntie P, used under Creative Commons, with thanks.

Local Cinemas

Students have asked about local cinemas, so: here's a list of some local cinemas – all under 1 mile from Conway Hall


If you’re looking for more cinemas, Time Out has a great search engine: http://www.timeout.com/film/


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‘MAINSTREAM’
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Leicester Square is the traditional heart of cinema in London, and many film premiers are hosted here.


Vue West End – 3 Cranbourn St, Leicester Square
http://new.myvue.com/home/cinema/west-end-%28leicester-square%29

In the north east corner of Leicester Square
Student tickets are £10.70 with your ID.
If you go back to the cinema within 2 weeks, you can get £1.50 off your ticket.


Empire Leicester Square – 5-6 Leicester Square
http://www.empirecinemas.co.uk/index.php?page=cinemainfo&id=27&tbx_site_id=5
On the northern side of Leicester Square
Nine screens of various sizes: screen 1 seats 1330, but screen 6 has just 26 seats.
Student tickets are £11.95 (Circle) or £9.95 (stalls and other seats) – with ID (preferably ISIC, but they might well take your ND card – try it).


Odeon Leicester Square – the huge cinema on the east side of the square.
http://www.odeon.co.uk/fanatic/film_times/s105/London__Leicester_Square/

This is the famous cinema in Leicester Square, but you pay for it… Tickets are cheaper Mon-Thurs before 5pm.
Mezzanine (student): £8.30 (off-peak), £11.45 (peak)
Stalls (student): £9.90 (off-peak), £12.50 (peak)
Rear circle (student): £11.45 (off-peak), £14.60 (peak)
Royal circle (student): £14.55 (off-peak), £18.75 (peak)


Odeon Panton St – 11-18 Panton St, SW1Y 4DP
http://www.odeon.co.uk/fanatic/film_times/s117/

This is just around the corner from the London Centre.
Student tickets: £6.80 (off-peak) and £8 (peak)
They also have special screenings (art-house, independent and foreign films) for £4.


Odeon Covent Garden – 135 Shaftesbury Ave, WC2H 8AH
http://www.odeon.co.uk/fanatic/film_times/s81/

Also an Odeon, this boasts 4 screens (most seating about 120, one seats 230) and is MUCH cheaper than Leicester Square and, it seems, the cheapest ticket in this area.
Student tickets are £6.35 (off-peak) and £7.50 (peak)

BFI Imax – the big round building in front of Conway Hall
http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_imax

The biggest screen in Britain, 500-seat cinema. This is luxury cinema-going.
IMAX DMR and digital titles: peak time (Mon - Fri from 17:00 and all weekend)
Premium: £18.50 (adult); £15 (student)
Standard: £16 (adult); £11.50 (student)

IMAX DMR and digital titles: off-peak (Mon - Fri before 17:00)
Premium: £17 (adult); £13 (student)
Standard: £15 (adult); £10.50 (student)

Buying tickets
Telephone: call 020 7199 6000. Open daily 10:30 - 19:30
Online: book tickets online at bfi.org.uk/imax
In person: the ticket desk opens at 10.30 and remains open until 15 minutes after the final public screening of the day commences
There’s a £2 booking fee if you buy online or over the telephone, so it’s worth walking 20m to the box office! No matter how you book, you’ll need to take your student ID with you.

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‘QUIRKY’
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BFI Southbank – just on the river, next to the National Theatre.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank

Film seasons (often focusing on specific actors or directors), premieres and special screenings, as well as some classic British films. This calendar year they’ve committed to showing all 50 animated Disney films – on the big screen.
Generally you should book in advance: online or why not just pop in there on your way to class. Once booked, you can’t get a refund on a ticket. Membership is £40 for the year – you don’t have to be a member to go, but you get a discount of tickets and invitations to special events.
Evening show (except Tues) and all shows on Saturday/ Sunday
Concessions: £5.25
Non-Member concessions: £6.75
Tuesday - all shows
Concessions: £5.00
Non-Member concessions: £5.00
Weekday matinees
Concessions: £5.00
Non-Member concessions: £6.50
Concessions are available to students with ID.

Standby tickets
Subject to availability, there may be standby tickets available for sale half an hour before each performance – but only in person at the box office.


The Prince Charles Cinema – 7 Leicester Place, north east corner of Leicester Sq
http://www.princecharlescinema.com/

If you’re tired of Odeon, try this place! They play ‘repertory’ films as well as new releases. The rep films are cheaper. Tickets are also cheaper if you become a member. You don’t have to be a member to go, but annual membership is just £10, or a mere £5 for concessions!

New releases:
Weekday Matinees - £8/£6 Mem
Eve/Wkend/Bank - £10/ £6 Mem
Rep films:
1st Weekday Matinees - £5.50/£1.50 Mem
2nd Weekday Matinees - £5.50/£2.50 Mem
Eve/Wkend/Bank - £6.50/£4 Mem

Roxy Bar and Screen, London Bridge
http://www.roxybarandscreen.com/listings.php

Fancy dinner and a cocktail with your film? Then head to the Roxy, who offer an eccentric selection of themed double-bills, art-house, and live sport on the big screen, with comfy sofas and table service to boot. Membership gives you free entry and the ability to book tables, or just turn up early to get a good seat. Screening prices start from £3.

* Photos by Andrew Woodyatt and Ard vd Leeuw, used under Creative Commons, with thanks.

Photography exhibitions in London

Another question that came up over orientation weekend that needs a blog post to answer was "which galleries are good for photography?"

There are the big public galleries - the National Portrait Gallery, the V&A, Tate Modern, and while The Photographer's Gallery is closed for refurbishment at the moment, they still have an active program of talks and events. The Whitechapel Gallery, in East London, is showing an exhibition of Thomas Struth's work until the 16th September, and the Museum of London's exhibition of London Street Photography closes on the 4th.

Private galleries include:
- Proud, with galleries in Camden and Chelsea (the Camden gallery doubles as a gig venue offering FREE music every Saturday and Sunday from 3pm-7pm!)
- Michael Hoppen Gallery.
- Diemar Noble.
- Atlas.
- Chris Beetles Fine Photography.
- Hoopers Gallery
- Getty Images Gallery

Foto8's Host Gallery is currently closed, but will be back in November, whilst Viewfinder Photography Gallery have, in fact, moved outside the gallery space all together, but arrange events and exhibitions elsewhere.

PhotoFusion, in Brixton, hosts exhibitions, but is so much more - a key resource for keen photographers in London!

Close to the London Centre, small venues such as the Mall Gallery, and the galleries in the Royal Opera Arcade host a fast moving selection of short exhibitions, many of which are photographic.

And then there are the other venues - the places that are predominately book shops or theatres or embassies that also have photographic exhibitions. So, at the moment within a 10 minute walk of the London Centre, The National Theatre, on the South Bank, are hosting the Press Photographer's Year 2011, until Sept 4th while Foyles bookshop on Charring Cross Road is hosting an exhibition called Photo Stories

I'm sure I'm missing something, but hopefully this is enough to get you started!

- Miss Alice

* Photo by Arty Smokes, used under Creative Commons, with thanks.

Current Oyster fares

During our optional orientation session on living in London on a budget, the cost of current Oyster Card fares for travel came up, so:

For FULL details go to http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14825.aspx

BUSES:
If you can make your whole journey just using one bus, this will be cheaper than using the tube. A single bus ride is every time you get on a bus, regardless of how long you stay on the bus. This is not always the case overseas, where you often get tickets that are good for any amount of travel within a set length of time.

You MUST buy a ticket or have a topped-up Oyster card BEFORE you board a bus.

Without an Oyster card: Cash price for a single one trip on one bus: £2.30

With an Oyster card: Single trip: £1.30

If you only use buses one day, there is a daily cap on your Oyster card of £4.00.

This means that once you have made £4 worth of bus journeys, you won’t be charged any more that day. So, you’d be charged £1.30 for your first 3 bus journeys that day, then just 10p for the fourth journey and nothing for any further bus journeys. The price cap day ends at 4.30am the following day, so includes travel on late night buses.


TUBE AND OVERGROUND TRAINS IN LONDON
(including the Docklands Light Railway, or DLR):


(NB - prices correct 29/8/2011, information taken from TfL's website)

Things to bear in mind –

PEAK TIME on London transport:
6.30am – 9.30am and 4pm – 7pm Monday to Friday.

OFF-PEAK TIME on London transport:
9.30am – 4pm and after 7pm Monday to Friday.
ALL DAY on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays

If you use both buses and trains in one day, you’ll be charged up to the train/tube price cap.


16-25 RAILCARD

If you use your ISIC to buy a 16-25 Railcard (£28 from a railway station: it gives you 1/3 off off-peak national rail travel), you can also go to the ticket office at a tube station and have them put a 1/3 discount on your Oyster card which will then apply to the off-peak daily price cap.

Go to: http://www.16-25railcard.co.uk/ for more information.

If you’re planning to do even one or two rail journeys to visit places in the UK, then just those trips might save you more than the £28 for the railcard – but plan ahead and check that out).


NATIONAL RAIL TRAVEL:

Finding out times and prices: You can look for train tickets and prices on the National Rail enquiries website: www.nationalrail.co.uk The site also has a cheapest fare finder tool. Click on “add railcard” to see what difference a 16-25 railcard would make to the cost of your journey.

* Photos by wecand and sharkbait , used under Creative Commons, with thanks.