Review: The Gateway by easyJet lounge at London Gatwick Airport’s North Terminal

This is our review of The Gateway by easyJet lounge in the North Terminal at Gatwick Airport.

This is part of our series of reviews of airport lounges across the UK.  You see all of the reviews here.

This lounge opened in 2014 when it was branded as My Lounge and had a hipster aesthetic, which extended to wooden cutlery and cardboard bowls. This was done to create a point of difference with No1 Lounge next door, which has the same ownership.

Towards the end of the pandemic, the lounge took an interesting shift. It became ‘The Gateway by easyJet’ and offers free entry to anyone on a fully flexible easyJet ticket. Other entry routes (cash, Priority Pass, DragonPass etc) remain. The second My Lounge at Gatwick South remains open under the original brand and is reviewed here.

All of the lounges at Gatwick North are in the same area, so follow the big ‘Lounges’ sign as you clear security and duty free. It is situated immediately to your left as you turn into the corridor which ends in the No1 Lounge.

The My Lounge look is best described as ‘industrial shabby chic’.  The entire lounge is glass fronted so anyone passing can see the whole space – although you would only pass the lounge if you were on the way to one of the other lounges.

The ‘shabby chic / hipster’ ethos has softened over the years. Real cutlery, real plates and real glassware are now available and a few orange cushions purchased. The street art in the games room has been replaced by a beach scene. Apart from that, little has changed since the 2014 opening.

It is a small space so it only takes a few photos to give you a full overview.

The main feature is a 15 foot long wooden table with 12 or so yellow chairs around it. This is the best place to work. Standing behind it with my back to the window, you get a view of the buffet and the dining tables:

Here’s a view from the buffet, looking towards the entrance:

Whilst there are floor to ceiling windows, there is no view as you are looking directly back at the terminal. However, these chairs and tables are attractive. Each table has a letter as a base which spells out L-O-U-N-G-E (there may have been eight originally to spell ‘My Lounge’!):

At the back are a couple of sofas (not pictured as they were occupied) and two private rooms. One has a large leather sofa in it:

It was marked ‘Reserved’ when I arrived and a family group took it later on. I am guessing it was held back for them after they booked a large number of slots.

Next door is a small room with table football:

Food and drink at The Gateway lounge

Food was never a strong point here although what is available isn’t actually bad at all. Your options at breakfast are either a sausage / eggs / bacon / beans buffet:

…. or croissants / mini muffins / fruit / yoghurt:

There is a pancake machine but it was broken.

I was also there as breakfast morphed into lunch. There was a choice of a salad bar:

…. and a mix of chicken or pasta with rice as hot items:

As well as the usual soft drinks and coffee machines, alchol options included a surprisingly varied selection of wine (nothing sparkling) plus standard spirits – Jim Beam, Bacardi, Famous Grouse, Beefeater etc.

One thing worth noting is that there is a major lack of plugs in the lounge. It’s all very well having huge wooden tables and leather sofas but they are not ideal for integrating electrical sockets. There are some scattered around but your options are limited.

Getting in

If you were planning to pay to visit The Gateway lounge, you should note that pricing is all over the place.

On the No1 Lounges website it is £32 (my 2015 review notes it was £16 …. lounge inflation has been steep).

Over at Holiday Extras it is £29 for two hours or £32 for three hours. However, click through to Holiday Extras via the easyJet site and you can pay £23 for two hours.

You can also get access via Priority Pass or other lounge club cards. You can pay £6 to pre-book The Gateway or the No1 Lounge next door if you want to ensure access. No1 is by far the bigger space but can be very chaotic. Even as The Gateway lounge got busier there were still plenty of seats, although it was turning away Priority Pass cardholders without reservations around 1pm.

Opening hours are currently 4am to 9pm.

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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (January 2024)

Here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Plaza Premium, Delta Air Lines and Eurostar lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £24.  You get four more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free Priority Pass card, allowing you access to the Priority Pass network.  Guests are charged at £24 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.