Great free daily lunchtime activities
By Afro (follow her on Twitter: @graphiclondoner)
Here at Broke in London, we support an on-going resolution to maintain a balance between your work life and your lunch break. Stylist’s Reclaim Your Lunch Break campaign taught us how to start owning our lunch breaks again, (find more inspiration by searching for #reclaimyourlunchbreak on Twitter). We all work hard, but simple math shows that if you don’t take your lunch break you are effectively donating your employer 20 hours per month, which is almost 3 working days. And that’s a lot, right?
At the same time, working in the city of London can prove very expensive for your pocket, so here are our favourite 5 free lunch time break activities that will take you out of your comfort zone without breaking the bank.
#1 | Meditate
Tired of your manager’s rants and the non-stop e-mails? Too stressed to face your to-do list? Try out some meditation courses to help you unwind and block external forces. Once you pick up some basic techniques you can become better at it by practicing, (some people claim that you can meditate during your commute as well!). Pop over to Inner Space for a lunch time course on meditation for FREE.
Picture taken from gabbyb.tv
#2 | Lunching and Learning
If you want to use your lunch break to learn something new and exercise those brain cells, you can! RSA, London School of Economics and Welcome Collection all organise lunch time talks and bite-sized debates on mind-provoking subjects. Most of them are free, but you do need to book in advance – so take a look at what’s on today!
RSA Events
LSE Public Events
Wellcome Collection Public Events
If all this is not enough and you are thirsty for more knowledge, have a look at our guide to London’s free lectures.
British Museum – Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0
#3 | Earth without Art is just Eh
Are you in a job that does not allow room for creativity? Tate organises free guided tours every day around lunch time. Each tour focuses on a specific floor and it is a one-off opportunity to find out more about those amazing pieces of modern art. If you work close to the British Museum, take a look at their schedule, which has daily gallery talks. Subjects vary, so you could be listening about Aztec Gods and their symbols one day and Islamic glass the next. Also the National Gallery holds lunchtime talks.
Pic taken from tate.org.uk
#4 | Free Lunchtime Concerts
Expand your musical horizons with a lunchtime concert. Explore new music genres like classical recitals in Rhinegold LIVE, who also offer a free glass of wine. You can also discover future opera stars in the Royal Opera House. St Martin in the Fields offers lunchtime concerts on classical composers with a twist.
Pic taken by stmartin-in-the-fields.org
#5 | Unleash the book worm inside you
Lunch time is an excellent opportunity to catch up on your reading, but what if you could combine your love for books with a discussion about them with other like-minded individuals? Join a book club today! Most libraries around London organise one and some of them run during lunch hours. If you happen to work in one of those big London Business parks, check with them – they might be organising something for the employees already, (this is how I discovered my book club!). Finally, it’s worth checking with your local Waterstone’s as they hold a twitter book club as well as various local ones in their branches (i.e. Chiswick High Road).
Pic taken by charliebyrne.com
Sometimes the best lunch time activity can be a simple stroll, especially if the sun is shining! Check out our guide to London’s best vintage markets (I checked and there is one for every day of the week!)
Are you looking forward to your next lunch break? Let us know of your best tips and we will update this post!
