QTR Restaurant to close through summer term
The restaurant will close to allow it to be used as an examination venue, with students told to use the Senior Common Room restaurant instead.
The Queen’s Tower Rooms Restaurant will be closed throughout the entire summer term, Imperial College London has announced, as the space is to be used as a venue for examinations.
The move, which comes following a trial in January, will see the outlet – which is usually open for lunch on weekdays for all students and staff – filled with students taking summer exams. It will be closed throughout the summer break, and will not reopen until October 2018.
In a statement, the College said the change was “part of longer term efforts to improve facility-related student examination experiences”, saying it was “directly linked to over 500 individual pieces of student feedback about what constitutes an acceptable examination venue.”
“Students cited concerns over longer queuing times as a result”
Students are invited to use the Senior Common Room restaurant during this period, which is usually only open to postgraduate students and staff.
However, students and staff Felix spoke to cited long-running concerns over the length of queues at Imperial-owned outlets, which could be exacerbated by the decision to temporarily close the Queen’s Tower Rooms Restaurant.
Following the launch of the Campus Services Survey by Imperial College Union earlier this year, one academic reported receiving complaints from students about long waiting times. “They usually only get one hour to eat between lectures, and are not happy to spend their lunch break in a queue or finding a seat.” they said, “They do not have time to eat or relax.”
The survey was triggered, in part, by wide ranging changes to campus services that went into effect last summer, including removal of cooked SCR breakfasts.
