Food, The Buttery and Dining Hall

Homerton provides catering facilities from the New Dining Hall and the Buttery (both a part of the big turquoise building), as well as the self catering facilities in the student accommodation kitchens/gyps. Your facilities will vary depending on which accommodation block you are in!

The Dining Hall serves Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner on weekdays; Breakfast and Lunch on a Saturday; and roast lunch on Sundays. The Buttery is meant to provide snacks and drinks and is available for paninis, coffees and a wide variety of snacks throughout the day. The College bar is known as the Griffin. Opening times are listed below and are only applicable during the undergraduate term period. Outside term time, please check here.

Opening Times

Note: Opening times are valid as of Monday 18 September 2023

Breakfast

Monday-Saturday: 7:30am - 9am

**No breakfast service on Sundays**

Lunch

Monday-Friday: 12pm - 2pm

Saturday Brunch: 11:30am - 2pm

Sunday Roast Lunch: 11:30am - 2pm

Weekday Dinner

Monday to Friday: 5:30pm – 7pm

**No dinner service on weekends**

Buttery

Monday to Friday: 9am – 5:30pm

Saturday & Sunday: 9am - 4pm

Griffin Bar

Monday to Sunday: 6 – 11pm

Hall Menus

Hall Menus are published each week and can be found here! Please note that catering actually finalises food choices the morning of serving and food will run out at some point during service and be replaced by a substitute, so there may be some differences between the menus and the food actually served!

Formal Hall

Formal Halls are special dinners that are held in the Great Hall every Tuesday during Full-Term and some Fridays for Graduate-only Formals. Formal Halls are waiter service of a three-course meal by candlelight; students dress smartly and Fellows wear academic gowns (students are not required to wear academic gowns to the Formal Halls, but may do so if they wish - most do!). Booking for a formal is done through the uPay app around a couple weeks before the actual dinner.

Ethical Food Policy

Homerton College Catering Department recognises its responsibility to carry out its procurement activities in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. As far a possible the department sources its products from local suppliers. (Local being 25 miles radius of Cambridge). These reputable companies have procedures in place that help us manage our purchasing decisions.

Andrews Butchers, Cambridge – East Anglian pork, beef & lamb

Hilary’s Wholesale, Cambridge – Fruit & Vegetables from Ely Chatteris Lincolnshire and many other local farms.

Foodwell Waterbeach, Cambridge – Local grown vegetables

Radwinter Wild Game, Saffron Walden – Local game from Duxford Great Shelford

Cobs Bakery Cambridge – Bread made from locally sourced organic flour.

As well as using local companies the department also tries to minimize energy usage in food production, storage and transport by careful management and controlling the delivery process. Our suppliers have cut down on the amount of cardboard they use in deliveries The Department as also started to use E- Procurement, in particular for groceries and frozen foods. The college as its own recycling system in place, for cardboard, glass & tins as well as food waste, which is sent off for composting by a local company. Records are kept and monitored. Increased recycling means a reduction in the use of landfill, and this is also recorded and monitored.

Explaining the cost of College Food

Did you pay with your university card?

College actually operates three different prices for each of the food items it sells: one for external customers paying with cash, one for students paying with cash, and a third for students paying with their university card. The cheapest way to buy food is to use your university card, which has EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) functions. You can check what you’ve bought and add more funds using the uPay app.

Did you look at the till?

What is displayed on the till isn’t always what you’ve paid! When the cashier types your purchase into the till, it shows the external cash price, which can be quite a bit more than the price you pay with your card. Annoyingly, this cheaper price doesn’t show up until you touch to pay with your card! If in doubt, don’t hesitate to ask how much your meal cost you. The cashiers will be happy to tell you!

Did you know Homerton doesn’t have a KFC?

We’re not talking Kentucky Fried Chicken here, but a Kitchen Fixed Charge. Almost all colleges operate these, which require students to pay anywhere up to £400 per term to subsidise their food service. Students at such colleges will pay their KFC and not see a penny of it. That money is instead used to make food much cheaper at the point of sale. In fact, recent tables show that Homerton is one of the cheapest colleges to be at. If you ever have a concern about the quality, price, or anything else about your food in college, please use the Contact page and let our Services Officer know. Bear in mind that you can always ask your server if you feel that you didn’t get a fair portion!