How to nail London culture on the cheap

Living in London is expensive and you need to justify that £170 for a leaky roof and damp walls is actually worth it. The weekly rent for students at Royal Holloway is £92 – cheap- but they have to pay £9 to go to their student union on a Friday night because there isn’t anything else to do. And what else are they going to do, other than pay for a coach to actual London and do the stuff that we can do all the time?

If you want something other than a drunken night out at ULU then London caters for all

TV

It’s no surprise that the best BBC and Channel 4 content is filmed in London – so guess what? That means you can see the likes of Alan Carr Chatty Man, The Jonathan Ross Show and Celebrity Juice for absolutely nothing – unless you factor in the tube fare. TV shows don’t want empty seats during filming so give the tickets away through websites such as www.sroaudiences.com.

The only catch is that they over subscribe their shows so that there are definitely no empty seats. But if you only have 9 contact hours a week then getting to the performance early isn’t exactly difficult.

Comedy

Soho is the stomping ground of the TV comedian. Whilst it is possible to see famous faces for £20+ in any of the big comedy clubs in the area, the exact same comedians will be performing the same material for little to no money a few months before their big arena tours. So whilst some pay £50+ for a ticket to see Michael McIntyre in Cardiff-  you can see him  performing the exact same material for a fiver.

The Phoenix in Cavendish Square just off Oxford Street, does a weekly comedy show on Mondays for new material for just £5. Expect to see the likes of Katherine Ryan, Joe Lycett, Aisling Bea, Rich Hall and Jack Whitehall in an intimate setting. It’s also worth checking out the Secret Comedy Club in Covent Garden, student tickets are a fiver and Jack Whitehall amongst other big names have been known to rock up unannounced.

Theatre

In 2016, most prime tickets for top shows went for £60 –  not an activity that most students, in or out of London, would consider doing. However, there are ways around this: eye-wateringly cheap day tickets are available for most shows for matinée performances on the day, usually at the £20 mark, provided you can drag yourself out of bed and queue at 8am for doors to open. If you have less beer tokens to spare then at www.mousetrap.org.uk they run a project to get more 19-23 year olds to go to the theatre by booking out entire blocks of tickets and selling them on for just £10. These sell-out fast but it’s well worth scanning their website often to bag tickets for top shows.

Music

Meeting Mike Duce from Lower Than Atlantis in London at a free acoustic gig at the South Bank Centre

Big bands regularly play smaller London clubs in order to run new material or warm up before bigger gigs. In the past year I’ve seen The Pigeon Detectives for £5 at the O2 Academy in Islington as well as Reading Festival favourites Lower Than Atlantis for…nothing. The other alternative is to religiously apply to draws for the iTunes festival running throughout September to see top acts, or BBC Radio 2’s exclusive performances at Broadcasting House, including regulars like Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher.

So, if you’re bored of the weekly grind at XOYO or Loop, then let London welcome you into its rich cultural bosom at one of its many other attractions. Dusty paintings aside, there is plenty more than meets the eye.

One more thing – bring a hip flask to avoid paying £5 for a pint.