Life at Bankside House

Bankside is the largest LSE hall and has a range of facilities. Most rooms are of a good size (some rooms are huge, though not everyone is so fortunate!), and - apart from the odd dodgy stain on the carpet - are in great condition, with modern furniture.

The bathrooms are a huge selling point for Bankside, as the worst deal you can have is sharing with one other person, the other option being en suite, so all in all, really good!

The canteen/ restaurant is on the ground floor and provides food that is ten times (or more!) better than school meals (though the author went to a state school so that's not difficult!) at reasonable prices.

The basement is more interesting: here you will find the computer room, the laundry room (for which you will need a very large quantity of 20p pieces), the bar (which has very competitive prices - especially during happy hour), the TV room, pool tables, table football and table tennis tables, and game machines. Let's not forget the music room (with a piano and comfy sofas) and the committee's very own library, which is packed with books, magazines and DVDs.

On each floor you can find a study room with chairs and tables. Floors 1 to 6 also have a cosy lounge equipped with sofas, flat screen TV (freeview) and a microwave.

The car park also appeals to some. The eighth floor has conference rooms, with stunning views, but you are not allowed to use those so that's not important.

What about outside Bankside? What is there to do?

Well, it depends what you like. The South Bank is culture central, so if you're into art, music, theatre or film, there's really nowhere better! Obviously there's the Tate Modern (literally 20 metres away), which, according to one student, 'is a hoot if you've got a sense of humour'! It has to be passed to get to LSE, so if you don't visit by the end of your time at Bankside, shame on you! There are also another couple of galleries within short walking distance along the river.

The National Film Theatre, London IMAX Cinema, The National Theatre and the Royal Festival Hall are also seriously close by. So are the Millennium Eye (London Eye) and the Saatchi Gallery. And then there's the Globe (Shakespeare's Theatre) which is cool when it's actually open. Basically, the area's packed with enough cultural stuff to keep you going for a lifetime, if that's your kind of thing. If not, they're just pretty buildings.

In terms of clubs, it's difficult to say that there's a fantastic choice just around the corner from Bankside, as there's really not! Though funnily enough, the famous Ministry of Sound is about a ten minute walk away. It's pretty popular on a Wednesday night, not just with Banksiders, but with LSE in general, as well as other London students. In terms of pubs, Belushi's on Borough High Street is a favourite haunt of numerous drunks. There are other bars in the area, but us being students, and Bankside bar being cheap, it's the obvious and commonest choice for drinking!

There's a pretty good selection of restaurants in the area, though Pizza Express (which is luckily just around the corner) seems a firm favourite. There are a fair few restaurants on Borough High Street, along the river, and on The Cut (the road that leads from Southwark station to Waterloo), which are reasonable, but hardly affordable on a regular basis (which is where Bankside Restaurant comes in!).

Fortunately the new Blue Fin Building, which is just adjacent to Bankside House, has just opened its doors. There you can find a few places that sell reasonable priced fresh fast food to eat in or take away. Leon, Crussh and Amano have become really popular with Bankside students.

Borough Market, which is practically on our doorstep, is a must-go for organic/ homemade/ generally good food, but is only a weekly treat as its opening days are Friday and Saturday. There are also plenty of Starbucks for those of you who don't want to fight globalisation! To be honest, though the surroundings lack a little in excitement (there are changes going on to make it cooler), great transport links to trendier areas like Hoxton or Islington solve any possible problems.

If you manage to dodge the inexplicably large number of runners, the walk into LSE is nice, and gives you a chance to finish breakfast before class.

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