It began publishing in 1979 (replacing its predecessor Sennet, including a redesign) and was at one point the largest student-run newspaper in Europe (representing over 120,000 students).

At that time it was published weekly in term-time and printed in Gloucestershire, before being distributed to around 50 London sites including non-university further and higher education establishments, such as Polytechnics, overnight.

The editor was elected annually by other student journalists who had worked on the paper as a sabbatical from studies, and there was one staff member, a business manager and advertising sales person.

[2] Until its closure in 2014, London Student distributed 12,500 copies fortnightly during termtime throughout the university year, equating to approximately 12 issues annually.

[8] In January 2018, London Student exposed the existence at UCL of secret conferences on eugenics and intelligence with speakers including white supremacists.

Each section often gained access to national press events, previews and interviews with significant artists or people prominent within each cultural discipline: Roots Manuva, Park Chan-Wook, Iain Rankin, British Sea Power, Doug Stanhope, Ruby Tandoh, Michael Horovitz, Of Montreal, The Coen Brothers and They Might Be Giants were featured in previous issues of the magazine, among other notable figures.

Past editors of the sections have included Rena Minegishi, Emma Hope Allwood, Bryony Bowie, Jake-Pace Lawrie, Robert Kiely, Kate Vine, Rina Buznea, Peter Yeung, Jack Kirby and Matt Williamson.

"Skirr" replaced it in 2015/16 under the editorship of then London Student co-editors Dea Gjinovci, Ben Jackson, Ed Ive, James Smith, and Donato Paolo Mancini.