Is Gatwick’s ‘Premium’ Clubroom Lounge Worth the £38 Entry Fee? After hearing numerous reports from fellow travel enthusiasts about difficulty getting into Priority Pass lounges, I wanted to ensure I could get into a lounge before my flight on Air Transat to Canada.
Options at Gatwick’s North Terminal to Priority Pass, or in my case Lounge Key, holders include:
- Entry level: The Gateway by easyJet (operated by No.1 Lounges)
- Mid-tier: No.1 Lounge
- Premium: The Clubrooms by No.1 Lounges (surcharge for LoungeKey holders)
I opted for The Clubroom because of the lack of reviews online (gotta get that content in 😉) – as well as thinking the £15 reservation fee would mean a quieter experience. Both the No.1 Lounge and The Clubroom can be reserved here for those with a credit card lounge membership.
The lounge is found in the same area of North Terminal as all other lounges, including Emirates, although it is located on Level 1 – not Level 3 as per No.1 and easyJet.
For a premium lounge, the entrance is understated and frankly underwhelming.
Directly after entering, I was welcomed by a member of staff almost one hour prior to my reserved slot who quickly validated my HSBC UK Lounge Key. The space is lit exclusively with lights due to the exterior light being blocked through the windows. There’s a rather odd seated area for two guests to watch television which I can imagine is rarely used.
A bar, that had two staff during my morning visit, splits the lounge into two main areas – although the seating around it is all living room style. The lounge does not offer barista-made coffee.
An area for hot drinks can be found towards the rear of the lounge – although it wasn’t entirely clear if this was self-serve or supposed to be used only by staff.
The toilets were just behind here. Functional with a decent design but equally they weren’t spotlessly clean and they could certainly improve here.
Menus and table service are provided in this lounge – with surcharges for premium alcohol. Here’s a look at the breakfast offering, which was more substantial than suggested on the website, as well as the drinks:
The food was unimpressive, frankly, and should be improved for a premium lounge space with quality that left a lot to be desired. If you are paying the full entry price, you would do better to spend your money at a restaurant elsewhere in the terminal.
While this is a quiet and comfortable space to spend a couple of hours, I would not go out of my way to visit again – and certainly not pay the £38 per person that No.1 Lounges charges for entry to this premium space. If you’ve tried the Clubroom outside of the morning period, I’d be interested to see how you found it – let us know in the comments below.
Like our Gatwick’s Premium Clubroom Lounge review? You can read more Airline Lounge reviews here.
9 comments
I used the No 1 lounge which is offered to TAP business class pax last year at LGW. I really thought it a poor experience, worth £15 at most. It determined me to use LHR for TAP in future, even if the ticket is more expensive as there are the really good lounges there eg. Lufthansa, United, Air Canada …
Definitely agree re:Star Alliance. SQ is my favourite!
That food is embarrassing for a premium lounge.
Clubrooms in the North was where BA shoved us all while the South was closed for 18months / 2 years & they had to move back to their original home. During that time you’d often find specific staff assigned to XYZ zones and providing pretty good table service ( including well prior to app ordering becoming a thing during the coof). YOU could go to the bar if you wanted but when they scanned you and saw you CE/ J/ F or had status the staff would wait on you hand and foot in ways often better than ive had in the CCR at times.
I’ve heard that since then the place has slipped back service wise & would agree that’s it’s somewhat of a lottery on whether it’s good service, relaxing and enjoyable or every man for himself and get what your given
( Fun factoid: [ for the geeks amongst us] BA was the lead airline by some margin when the North was being built & for many years had their logo emblazoned on the terminal exterior. When they lost that spot and GAL wanted to move them to the south to better serve EZY as the new Prime Carrier BA exacted quite a heavy price in that they made the then owners of LGW pay for the BA J & F lounges to BA design. Which is one reason it was done so nicely – BA wasn’t footing the bill so they decided to splurge a little)
Use of far many abbreviations – or should I have said, use of far too many abbrs? Would you have understood me with the latter though? I doubt it. Best to always state in full and bracket off the abbreviation after it. You look a know-it-all not to do so. Well, you irked me.
Thanks 🙂 would you care to give a specific example so I can be more aware in future?
I don’t think there’s a single abbreviation?
Agree, food was terrible
Used Clubrooms often – love the quiteness, even though it doesn’t have views. Found the original Lounge No.1 quality nosedived when companies like OnTheBeach or every Prepaid credit card gave away free entry. Lounge No.1 North back in the day was really excellent, especially when BA were without a lounge. The 3hr limit didn’t apply for Gold EC and CE passengers. Spent a good 8hrs in there during a delay, excellent food and drink options and had lots of fun. When Clubrooms came about it felt like they simply reduced the service and quality of original Lounge No1 to make the Clubrooms more speical. Personally, I would happily pay £38 just to get away from the rabble and lousy bacon rolls in Lounge No.1.
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