Canteens and cafés

University of the Arts London work in partnership with BaxterStorey to deliver catering services in our 7 campuses across London.

Our team of award-winning chefs regularly curate the menus to guarantee a fresh, sustainable and affordable food and drinks offer for our students and staff.

Sustainability

Sustainability is right at the heart of our Food Policy at UAL. As champions of ethically sourced, environmentally friendly food and working with local producers, we are one of the first universities to receive the ‘Gold Food for Life Served Here’ award and hold the Green Kitchen award from the Soil Association.

We choose seasonal produce because it tastes better and is more nutritious as the product is at the peak of its growing cycle, so the natural sugars, vitamins and nutrients are at their maximum.

Download a copy of our Sustainability Booklet to find out more.

Our food

Every day our food is freshly cooked by professional chefs and includes a minimum of 15% organic and 5% free-range ingredients. We offer a variety of concepts including timeless classics, student favourites, celebratory food, guest-chef experiences and trendy pop-ups, alongside a daily canteen service of hot food, national dishes, Grab and Go meals (baguettes, wraps, panini, salads…) and vegan soups and snacks.

We choose seasonal produce because it tastes better and it has a big environmental impact. We buy from local suppliers wherever possible to help reduce our food mileage and support local communities and businesses. It's also why we serve less animal protein and more plant-based protein, so up to 70% of what we offer is vegetarian or vegan.

UAL is proud to be one of the first universities to receive Food for Life Gold accreditation, for serving fresh, healthy, sustainably sourced food.

Our drinks

We serve speciality coffee provided by Extract Coffee Roasters and Benugo who both keep direct trade relationships with all their coffee farmers and cooperatives supporting entire communities.

We also offer a rotating selection of teas, soft drinks, and seasonal specials. We work with new brands and flavours that keeps our menu fresh and exciting.

UAL is the first university in the UK to receive the Gold Food for Life Catering Mark award by the Soil Association across all canteen outlets across the Colleges.

UAL food and drink package

We offer pre-paid Food and Drink Packages designed to make eating on campus easier, more affordable and more enjoyable. Packages are available to purchase before the start of each academic year from August through late September.

Both packages run for 32 weeks of the academic year, giving you access to hot meals, sandwiches, salads, pastries and barista drinks across all UAL cafés and canteens.

Check back on this page in August 2027 to find out when packages are available to buy for 2027/28.

Our cafés and canteens

Find your nearest UAL café or canteen and check their opening times.

Prices

Our canteens and cafés don't make a profit: prices are set to break even and we aim to keep costs down for our students. They're the same across all colleges, except Benugo at East Bank (Ground Floor), which sells its own trademarked products.

Prices are reviewed every year against ingredient, energy, labour and overhead costs. We also benchmark the prices of core menu items across other London universities. This year, catering prices will rise by 4% across our outlets.

Our food is simple yet nutritional and meal prices start from as low as £3.55. Our homemade soup and bread is £3.55 or the Campus Special is £4.30.

As part of UAL's ongoing commitment to support students with the cost of living, we are serving up free, vegan soup on selected days throughout the term. Find out more.

We also run other termly offers, promotions and meal deals which are relevant to the season and time of the day.

Our suppliers

Every dish listed in our menu takes into consideration not only the nutritional value, affordability and seasonality of the ingredients but also sustainable provenance with ethical welfare standards. We are proud to be part of food accreditation schemes such as: Soil Organic Association, Assured Food Standards, RSPCA assured, Certified Sustainable seafood. We strive to source regional ingredients to help reduce our food mileage and make a difference to the local community, wherever we operate or source.