Our Residence

As the School’s largest hall, Banksiders are lucky to have numerous social facilities in their building, most of which are located in the basement, which your Committee help to provide.

Please remember that this is your home and treat the facilities with respect by clearing up after yourselves. If there are excessive levels of mess the hall may be forced to close the rooms at certain times, which none of us want.

Social facilities

The Belching Beaver Bar

The bar is your main “common room” - it is the hub of your social life at Bankside! Come down here for a few cheap pre-drinks before going out, or stay in and mingle with your fellow sociable residents. The bar itself is open 7.30pm-11pm Monday to Saturday, although the room is open 24/7 for use as a general common area.

The bar has two pool tables (cues are available from the bar during opening hours); a foosball table; a Wii, a PS2 and board games available from the bar; and a projector TV with Sky Sports. Your committee hosts events in the bar throughout the year - parties, quizzes, games nights, a casino night, free food events and many more...!

Arcade

There is a small video arcade with several retro video games machines available for a small charge, just off the bar.

TV room

The TV lounge is located through the arcade. It is a large room (perhaps too large!) with a projector TV, DVD player, VCR and comfortable seating. It is open 24/7.

Ping-pong room

There is a ping-pong (table tennis) room located to the left of the computer room. You can get the key and the ping-pong paddles and balls from reception.

DVD Library

The Bankside DVD library has a selection of DVDs for you to borrow. Membership is free, but we require a £10 refundable deposit. The DVD library is also a good time to come and chat to your Committee members and keep up to date with what’s going on at Bankside.

The DVD library is open 7-8pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Music room

The Music room is located opposite the laundry and has a piano and two comfy sofas. You can borrow the key from reception.

Other Bankside Facilites

Of course, Bankside is not just about socializing in the basement - there are some other, more practical facilities you need to know about (a couple of which even have windows!).

Cafeteria

The cafeteria is on the ground floor. It sells hot, good-quality, reasonably-priced food every breakfast and dinner-time. It also has regular theme nights and speciality breakfasts. The kitchen staff are awesome and really receptive to new ideas - so if there are any foods you think they should try or theme nights you have an idea for, let them and us know your ideas!

For many students dinner-time tends to become a focal point of hall life where you know you can come and find your friends at the end of a hard day's studying (...or a hard day's "studying"!).

Study room

This room is quite well-hidden so many students probably don't even know it's there! It's located in the basement - to find it go through the bar, then through the arcade, then turn left on coming out of the arcade. It's a good place for quiet working, especially useful at exam time, and econ students have been known to meet in here to collectively solve their problem sets!

Computer room

The computer room is also in the basement and contains 15 LSE-networked computers and a printer.

You can top-up your printing credit at the machines in the LSE library or online here.

Laundry

The laundry is also in the basement, and ... well, it's hard to get enthusiastic about a laundry: there's about 10 washers and dryers, and thankfully they have big clear buttons so are simple enough for even the stupid and the male among us to use. 

You will need lots of 20p coins in here as the machines don't accept 10p coins and price in multiples of 20p. Most Banksiders learn to never spend 20p coins!

Prices: Washing machine: £1.60 (or £1.80 for an extra-long wash), Dryer: 20p per 12 minutes (36 mins is  typically necessary for a normal load).