Riverside remoting

Loving being waterside as much I do, it's rather surprising that it's taken me this long to pick a workcation spot along the Thames. The time had come this week, and as I have recently become a member of the Southbank Centre in Waterloo (primarily to get access to presale gig tickets), I was keen to check out the Members' Lounge.

The Southbank Centre really is a treasure, although arguably not the prettiest of buildings externally, it's proximity to the Thames allows for some stunning views and I was keen to see what the lounge had to offer.

Located on the top floor of the building (green side) and easy to find, I was a bit disappointed to find that no one was at the reception desk to direct me to my table (you need to book). I quickly sorted this out and found my table (22...my lucky number). Wow, just as I'd hoped...what a view! The table was quite small but I had a double plug socket on the floor and the seats are comfortable. They have a variety of seating types, including sofas and counter seating. I definitely had the best set-up for working from my laptop.

The cafe has a pretty good light snack menu, no table service though. Pretty much all of the lounge seating area is visible from the cafe so you can easily keep an eye on your belongings. I went for a toasted Italian deli sandwich, crisps and glass of NZ Sauv (of course) which came to £23 and was delicious. They have a great cake and pastry selection and I look forward to sampling something sweet with a flat white on my next visit...

---

The loodown:

It's no secret that the Southbank Centre offers some of London's nicest public conveniences, providing a pit-stop go to for many riverside roamers, with plenty of toilets on every floor of the building. Although the ground floor options are generally always clean (which is no easy task when you consider the sheer volume of people making use), I would always recommend going up to one of the higher floors. The Members' Lounge doesn't have separate toilets so you use the ones on the 6th floor just outside the entrance to the lounge area. They were perfectly clean but their location means that if you're soloing, you can't leave any belongings in your lounge area.

---

Lounge table reservations are made in blocks of two hours, so perfect for me on this trip as I had afternoon theatre plans. I will need to investigate whether you can book back-to-back two hour slots if I am looking to work from the lounge for a longer period.

The lounge is a quiet spot so no piped tunes here. As always, I come with my own background music and Spotify had me low-key chair dancing to Masters at Work (I challenge you to listen to Backfired and sit still) as I spent a very lovely couple of hours working and looking out at that fabulous view.

---

The verdict:

A very relaxed, comfortable and well-lit place to work from. The view really is spectacular and I like the fact that you know that you have a table booked ahead of arrival. It will be interesting to see if they allow back-to-back two hour bookings as this will be key should I wish to work a full day there in the future.

---

Good to know:

• For anyone attending regular gigs at the Southbank Centre, paying the £70 annual membership fee to get presale ticket access and use of the lounge seems a no-brainer. You can also take up to 5 guests into the lounge depending on availability.

• I always love observing the way the Thames twists and turns through the city and you can get a good glimpse of this via the various window seat aspects.