About this time last year, I asked if there were topics readers would like to see covered.  One suggested by ladytizzy was dining facilities in the Lords, so I thought it was time to get round to writing about the topic.

There are several dining outlets in the Lords: two restaurants where peers can take guests (the Peers’ Dining Room and the Barry Room), two which are members only (the Home Room and the Bishops’ Bar), and one which is open to peers and to pass-holders (the River restaurant).   Rather than take up too much space, I thought I would concentrate on one of them on this occasion: the Bishops’ Bar.  In a later post, I will write about the Barry Room.

The Bishops’ Bar comprises two adjoining rooms, neither especially large or particularly grand: one houses a bar and the other a sandwich counter, each with a few small tables.   Each room has its regulars.   If you are eating, you place your order at the sandwich counter and it is then brought to you once it has been prepared.  There is nothing plush or high-tech: the toasting machine is ancient and last July the refrigerated cabinet suffered a terminal failure and was not replaced until after the summer recess.   The tables are not spacious, so if there are two or more people at one table, it can be difficult to find space for all the plates and (in my case) pots of tea.  

It opens at noon (11.00 a.m. on Thursdays) and is usually quiet for the first half-hour or so; it then can get busy, with queues forming to order sandwiches.   My usual practice is to have lunch there and I normally turn up early: that enables me to get my usual table.  My order doesn’t change much, so Angela, who serves in the sandwich bar, keys in most of my order before I have said a word. 

There are incidental political advantages to dining in the same place and at the same time.  It means colleagues usually know where I am if they wish to have a word.  Sitting where I do means that I see peers as they come in and I can have a quick word with them as they line up to place their order.  A good deal of information is passed in the minute or two they are queuing.  If there are issues that need to be discussed, they join me for lunch.  Lunch can be a very productive occasion – a useful dining experience but also a useful intelligence-gathering opportunity.