About Birkbeck's local neighbourhood

When you're on campus, you'll be surrounded by book stores, coffee shops, museums and leafy green spaces.

You will be a five-minute walk from iconic London buildings such as Senate House Library and The British Museum. If you are looking for food or drink options before or after classes, our neighbouring streets throughout Bloomsbury are lined with independent cafés, bars and street food stalls.

Take a look at some of the places that make up Birkbeck's neighbourhood.

Coal Drops Yard at King's Cross

What's in our local area

Bookshops and reading spaces

Birkbeck's location gives you easy access to independent bookshops and libraries that carry a vast academic and literary range.

• London Review Bookshop
• Waterstones Gower Street bookshop
• Gay's The Word bookshop
• The British Library
• Senate House Library
• Birkbeck Library
  

Food, coffee, drinks

Birkbeck is surrounded by food, coffee and drinks spots making it easy to get something before or after your lecture. We also offer on-campus options, 

• Bloomsbury Farmers' Market. Street food stalls every Thursday, 9am-2pm
• Free vegetarian lunch. Daily lunch, outside entrance of SOAS
• Store Street Espresso coffee shops
• The Institute Bar. Run by UCL, take your student ID
• Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes
• Brunswick food and shopping centre
• Waitrose
• Lidl
• King's Cross Coal Drops Yard
• Birkbeck's on-campus bars and cafés

Cinema and museums

These museums and cultural spaces are a five-minute walk from Birkbeck.

• The British Museum
• The Wellcome Collection
• Charles Dickens Museum
• Curzon Bloomsbury Cinema 
• Peltz Gallery

Health and sport

There's a range of gyms, yoga studios, outdoor training areas and sports spaces a short walk from Birkbeck's campus.

• The Gym Group (Local branches in Bloomsbury and on Euston Road)
• Flow LDN, Yoga and Pilates
• Argyle Square Basketball Court
• TGO Outdoor Gym and Calisthenics Bars
• Lincoln's Inn Tennis Courts
• Slomo Sauna at King's Cross (Winter only)
  
  

Local area facts

• Birkbeck's central London neighbourhood is known as Bloomsbury
• 24-hour buses run all around campus, and Tube stations (Zone 1) are within a five-minute walk
• We are surrounded by neighbouring universities, including UCL, SOAS, University of London and RADA
• London has been ranked the world's number one city to be a student (QS Best Student Cities 2025)