Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Review: the Clubrooms lounge at London Gatwick’s South Terminal

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

A fascinating new airport lounge option opens at Gatwick South today – Clubrooms.

Clubrooms is a new product from No1 Lounges (part of the No1 Lounges group) which will be very interesting for business travellers, high end leisure travellers and groups.

Clubrooms is a suite of four private airport lounges in the South terminal at London Gatwick.   It offers a level of privacy and service which you won’t find at any other UK airport lounge – and the pricing is suprisingly reasonable.

Clubrooms Gatwick

I went along yesterday for a preview and was impressed by what I saw.

There are two large rooms and two smaller ones.  Each has a TV, a soft drinks fridge and fruit.  The space can be personalised at advance notice – there are PlayStations available for example.   Alcoholic drinks and a wide range of hot and cold food – all included in the price, except for champagne – will be brought to you by the staff.

Clubrooms lounge review London Gatwick Airport South Terminal

The larger rooms will be mostly used by smaller airlines which currently use the main No1 Traveller lounge at Gatwick South.  This will offer a substantially more premium experience to those passengers, albeit in a smaller space.  It will also reduce pressure on the No1 lounge and make it easier for Priority Pass, Lounge Club etc customers to get in at peak times.

The smaller rooms are the most suitable for booking by the general public – ie you.

Here is where it gets interesting.  The price is £37.50 per person with a minimum of four people.  This photo and the one below it are of the room you are most likely to get.  Remember that you get exclusive use of the room for three hours.

Clubrooms lounge review London Gatwick Airport South Terminal

In terms of cost, this is exceptionally reasonable.  The ‘advance booking’ rate for the main No 1 Traveller lounge is £20 via the current Avios promotion, increasing to £30 on the door.  For a modest premium, a group of four or more would have their own private lounge for up to three hours.

If you were hungry, the Clubrooms could work out cheaper than No1 Traveller, as many of the food items offered for free in Clubrooms are chargeable in the main lounge.  Lunch options include Keralan vegetable curry, chicken cacciatore and a range of salads as well as ‘comfort food’ options such as chicken wraps.

For a family or group that has paid a few thousand pounds for premium class tickets, or as a gift for a couple heading off on honeymoon, or for a group of business travellers who want some genuine privacy to discuss work before they travel, this is a great product.

Clubrooms lounge review London Gatwick Airport South Terminal

British Airways, remember, is moving to Gatwick South next November.  There is definitely a segment of BA premium passengers who will prefer to pay for a Clubroom than use the new BA lounges – after all, we are only talking about spending possibly 2% – 5% of the cost of Club World long-haul flights.

Clubrooms is open from 6am to 8pm daily – note the fairly early closing time.  If you are passing through Gatwick South, I’m sure they would be happy to let you take a quick look around – the entrance is next to Dixons Travel on the upper level.

More details on Clubrooms can be found on the No1 Lounges website here.  If it sounds interesting for a specific trip, I would enquire sooner rather than later – daily capacity is obviously restricted given that each booking is for three hours.

I also have news of changes to the No1 offering at Gatwick South – more tomorrow.

Travelling from Gatwick South? Here are your lounge options….

Gatwick South Terminal has a number of premium lounges to choose from, including several independent, airline-agnostic lounges. We have reviewed them all:


Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

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.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

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

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

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.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

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

Comments (24)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Koshka says:

    I’m due to go through Gatwick South at around 6.00 p.m. tomorrow. Does anyone have recent experience of whether a Priority Pass will get me in at this time? Thanks

    • Rob says:

      It was full at 5pm yesterday when I was taken in. However, some airline contract passengers will be using Clubrooms from today which may remove some bottlenecks.

      Apparently they get 800 per day in South as opposed to the 200 it was designed for …..

      • Koshka says:

        Thanks for the feedback. I regularly use the Plaza Premium lounges at LHR T2 and various Arlanda lounges. I’ve never had a problem getting entry to these so I currently have a good impression of Priority Pass compared to some others (although I do miss United Club).

  • Will says:

    Slightly typo I think as I am Not sure how a couple going on honeymoon could book a club room if the minimum number of people required to book a room is four!

    • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

      From the website:

      For parties of four people or less, you can hire a private room with food and drink table service from £150 per room.

    • Richie says:

      Because you would just pay for 4 people, but only 2 turn up

    • Rob says:

      No minimum. Pay your £150 and it is yours for up to 4 passengers.

      Forgot to ask how they charge for children.

  • Simmo says:

    ”Alcoholic drinks and a wide range of hot and cold food – all included in the price”

    Any more details on this? the website says ”Dining & drinks packages” no mention of whats actually included.

    • cheekychappie says:

      It’s unlimited food & drink (not Champagne). THAT@S ACTUALLY A GREAT DEAL< AS IF YOU Check the menu there are loads of normally chargeable rather tasty-sounding items!

      if you & the family rolled up with big appetites you could do much better out of this than going for one of the restaurants. 🙂

      • cheekychappie says:

        They dropped it last year 🙁

        So not quite so good. The bistro items are £4 each after your free one, so you do the maths.

    • Rob says:

      All of the food is free – you get a menu and the staff will bring as much as you want. Mainly ‘comfort food’ items, both hot and cold.

      There is a range of soft drinks, beer, wines, spirits and prosecco. I don’t have the menu with me at the moment. The drink ‘level’ is Johnnie Walker Black rather than JW Blue so not ‘premium’ to that extent – but neither are you getting Gordons Gin (I think it was Bombay Sapphire they had).

      I think Moet & Chandon was £20 a bottle (TBC) and the champagne prices go up further – they have a range of brands. Champange is the only drink which requires payment.

      When BA moves over to Gatwick South next year I will try to get a package as a competition prize – they were happy in principle with the idea yesterday.

  • Liz says:

    I have a Lounge Club card with 2 complimentary passes from the Preferred Gold Card. Do I need to keep the Gold card active to use the Lounge Club card. Was hoping to refer my husband and cancel this card but want to use the passes for a trip in Dec. I suspect the Gold card needs to be active. Can anyone confirm this. Thanks.

  • Danksy says:

    This looks amazing value for money and a really nice way to kick off a holiday/trip in style! With wine at c. £8 a glass in the bars etc. you don’t need more than a couple and a bite to eat to be ‘in the money’.

  • Lots About Lounges, 25k United Miles For Buying Mercedes, New Citi TYP Business Card?, A Dead Deal & Much More - Doctor Of Credit says:

    […] Now open, your own private lounge at Gatwick from £37.50! by Head For Points. Basically able to hire a private room with complimentary food and drinks for £150. Not really great value, especially if you already have lounge access but a nice idea as a wedding present for a honeymooning couple or even family get away. […]

  • Daniel says:

    Just to add a data point – I’m flying IB Express LGW-MAD and was redirected to the Clubrooms. Was nice being able to order a main and a salad to go with and not need to stump up any extra cash.

    I’m flying J so not sure if it would be the same deal for a OWS/OWE card holder flying in economy?

    • Rob says:

      That’s a result, almost worth flying IB via LGW to get this.

      • Daniel says:

        The food on the LGW-MAD trip was also very good. BA could learn a thing or two…….. will e-mail you a pic!

      • Daniel says:

        Oh and for good measure I added a fish finger sandwich 😉

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.