If you’re studying at UCL, Soho is closer than it feels. Ten minutes down Gower Street, past the shops on Tottenham Court Road, and you’re in the middle of it. That’s not a bad thing when you’re hungry, skint, and have twenty minutes between lectures.
Pizza is the obvious answer. It’s fast, it’s filling, and done right, it doesn’t cost much more than a meal deal. Here’s what to actually expect if you’re heading that way for a slice or a whole pie.
The Walk (or Quick Bus) from Bloomsbury
From the UCL main campus, you’re looking at about fifteen to twenty minutes on foot to Soho. Cut down Gower Street, past Warren Street or Euston Square if you’re starting further north, and you’ll hit Oxford Street before long. From there, Soho’s a few minutes further, tucked just south.
If it’s raining, or you’ve got a bag full of books, the bus does the job just as well. Either way, it’s not a trek. Soho is genuinely walkable from most of UCL’s buildings, which is more than you can say for half the “nearby” food options around campus.
What “Cheap” Actually Means in Soho
Soho has a reputation for being expensive, and plenty of it is. But pizza is one of the few things you can still get here without paying central London prices for a small plate of nothing. A proper 12-inch pizza, the kind that actually fills you up, shouldn’t cost more than a fiver or two above what you’d pay for a sad supermarket meal deal. If you’re being quoted anything close to double figures for a basic Margherita, keep walking.
The trick is knowing which places are pricing for tourists and which are pricing for people who actually live and work round here. Students fall into a strange middle category: you want to eat well, but you’re not paying West End rents to do it.
Fast Doesn’t Have to Mean Frozen
There’s a difference between fast food and food made fast. A lot of “quick” pizza in this part of London comes straight out of a freezer and into a microwave, and you can taste it. It’s fine in a pinch, but it’s not what you want when you’ve actually got a bit of time and a bit of hunger to spare.
The better spots make their dough properly and let it sit. Slow fermentation takes longer to prepare in advance, but it doesn’t slow down your order, you still get your pizza in a few minutes. It just tastes like something someone actually made, rather than something that was thawed out.
Where Students and Locals Actually Go
ICCO on Greek Street has been doing this since 1999, which in Soho years makes it something of an institution. It’s a five-minute walk from Tottenham Court Road station, so if you’re coming from UCL, it’s barely out of your way.
The pizzas are 12 inches, properly sized, and most of the menu sits under £8. The dough is slow-fermented, so you’re not getting the cardboard base you’d find at the cheaper chains. The whole kitchen is halal, which matters if you’ve been struggling to find a decent halal option that isn’t a kebab shop. And it stays open late, which is useful when your evening lecture runs over and you still haven’t eaten.
It’s the kind of place where you can grab a slice on the way somewhere, or sit in properly if you’ve got the time. Either way works.
Your New Pizza Stop Near UCL
Soho isn’t just for tourists and post-work drinks. For UCL students, it’s a genuinely practical option when you want something better than another meal deal, without the West End price tag attached. Fifteen minutes from campus, a decent 12-inch pizza for under a tenner, and a kitchen that’s been doing it properly since before most of us were born. Worth the walk.
