Pembroke College Cambridge

Dining Rights and Guest Rooms

Exercising your dining rights

Alumni who hold an MA or other Master’s degree or a higher degree from the University of Cambridge are welcome to dine in College during Full Term or the period of residence in the Long Vacation. For the academic year 2023-2024, ‘Full Term’ means 3 October to 1 December, 16 January to 15 March, and 23 April to 14 June; residence in the Long Vacation runs for five weeks from early July.

  • Dining for Members is available on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays during term and the Long Vacation Residence, except on occasions when large College events take place.
  • A Member may dine as a guest of the College at High Table up to four times each academic year (once a term and once in the Long Vacation residence), provided a Fellow or other authorised person is present to preside. On one of those occasions, overnight accommodation is free of charge for the Member if it is available.
  • If a Member is attending a Members’ Evening with a guest, and sharing a guest room, the charge is waived.

It is regrettably not normally possible for spouses/partners to dine at the High Table. However, for the academic year 2023-2024, the College is intending to hold six ‘Members’ Evenings’, when up to ten Members and their guests (twenty people in all) may dine at the College’s expense. It is recommended that large parties of Members, or Members and their spouses/partners, should seek to use these evenings as particularly good opportunities to dine in the College. The dates of these occasions in 2024 are Sunday 21 January, Sunday 18 February (FULLY BOOKED), Sunday 5 May, and Sunday 2 June. Attendance by a Member and their spouse at such Evenings is now restricted to two per annum for this particular academic year, so as to allow as many Pembroke Members as possible to avail themselves of this opportunity.

On the evening that you have booked in to dine, we would be grateful if you could arrive at the Senior Parlour no later than 7.15 pm for drinks before dinner. The dress code is smart, but it is not necessary to wear a gown.

Guest rooms

  • Overnight accommodation may also be available in College for alumni, at a reasonable charge: one person £71, two people £104 per night for the 2023-2024 academic year.
  • Accommodation is available for a visit of a maximum of two consecutive nights.
  • Guest rooms may only be booked by Fellows or Pembroke Members. If a Pembroke Member books the room, he or she should be the one, or one of the people, to stay in it. It is not normally possible to reserve rooms for non-Pembroke Members.
  • As mentioned above, overnight accommodation is free of charge for the Member, once a year, if a room is available when a Member dines as a guest of the College at High Table.
  • The College regrets that children under the age of fourteen are unable to stay overnight at Pembroke.

The College has three en suite guest rooms (one twin-bedded room in H staircase and two double-bedded rooms in H and K staircases). Given these limited facilities, early notice is strongly advised when making enquiries.

The College would be grateful to be informed at the earliest opportunity if a Member’s plans to visit have to be amended. Pembroke regrets that it will be necessary to charge a Member for the full cost of the room in the event that that Member should cancel his or her visit without giving at least 24 hours' notice.

College accommodation is usually available from 2 PM on the day of arrival. Guests are asked to check out and remove their luggage before 9.30 AM on the day of departure (but the Porters’ Lodge can store luggage until later in the day if necessary). Breakfast is not included in the charge but Members are welcome to have breakfast in the Buttery (usually open Monday to Friday between 8 AM and 10 AM and for brunch at the weekend between 10 AM and 1.15 PM, 11 AM and 1.15 PM out of term). Payments are accepted by card only.

How alumni can book a place on High Table or reserve a guest room

Arrangements for dining or for staying in a guest room should be made by filling in the online Accommodation and Dining Booking Form. Bookings can be made between 8 AM and 4 PM, although urgent enquiries will be dealt with outside those hours.

If you experience any difficulties using the online form, please phone the Development Office on +44 (0)1223 339079 or email dev@pem.cam.ac.uk. A provisional guest room booking will be made on receipt of the enquiry. We ask that payment be made within one working day of booking. To confirm the booking, please telephone +44 (0)1223 339079 with your payment details. A full refund can be provided if the booking is cancelled with at least 24 hours’ notice.