Aspire Bristol Lounge
The Aspire Bristol Lounge is a pay-in lounge at the small regional airport, run by Swissport.
It has recently been refurnished with new seats, when you can find them that is, for it can get busy. In summer, really busy.
There is a staffed bar (but no self serve options), a small selection of hot food, and a small shelf to work on.
Remember that if you are in Business Class this isn't the lounge for you. Instead, head to the AspirePlus Bristol Lounge, right at the other end of the terminal. Food and drinks are better there.
Bristol Aspire lounge review
The Aspire Bristol Lounge is on the left of the terminal as you enter the main concourse, and up the stairs by Frankie and Bennies restaurant.
There is a large reception desk, and a lot of space by the coffee table and seats here. Alas, this is the largest area of the lounge.
As you walk in, there is the main bar and food area on the right. Then further right is a small magazine rack, a shelf with power sockets for working on, and a small seating area which is the official 'quiet zone'. Alas, there isn't actually much of a view out, as the windows are high, and the seats are low. The coffee tables between the seats are even lower, meaning eating is a difficult task, and trying to ensure you don't spray food all over your clothes is hard as well.
Then again the view is really just of the main check in area anyway.
To the left is the main seating area, with three banks of seats. At the far end are larger tables, but they are often reserved, so you can't get near them.
Reviews of the Aspire Bristol Lounge have traditionally been a bit of a mixed bunch, so much so that the local newspaper has even reported on the wide variety of views about the lounge. Some passengers clearly hate it, others treat it as a decent quieter enclave away from the masses in the airport terminal. If you go in expecting it to be busy, and with basic food, it can be quite good. If you want something better - pay more to go to the AspirePlus lounge at the other end of the terminal.
Food
There is hot food in the Bristol Aspire lounge.
Before 11am there is a full English hot breakfast. After this time, there are two hot dishes, which change every other month. Menus are often on display, but only a couple of dishes from the menu are available at any one time. Casseroles and stews are much on display, along with pasta and rice. There are often some decent curry or Indian snacks in the hot tray too.
The salads are OK, with some ham and cheese plus a bowl of lettuce, and tomatoes. Note that the bottles next to salads isn't salad dressing: it's cordial for drinks.
Some times there are deserts, including cheesecake. At tea time there are hot scones too, with strawberry jam.
Bar
Of course the bar dominates the main area of the lounge.
It's all fully served, so you can't serve yourself, and if someone ahead of you orders cocktails, waits can be lengthy.
For wine, there are two types of white and red.
Equally, spirits are OK, but not the largest of selections.
However for draft beer, you have to ask the staff, who will pour a quite decent Birra Moretti, in proper logoed glasses - both a third of a litre, and a half litre.
Bottles of beer consist of Tiger, 1664, and cans of Guinness.
There is a separate small bar and coffee machine in the other end of the lounge.
Business Facilities
Business Facilities are somewhat more limited, and basically consist of the angled 'shelf' past the bar, where you can sit with a laptop. There are plug sockets here (UK style plus euro round pin, 240volt). In most of the rest of the lounge, there aren't many plug sockets.Free wifi.
Newspapers on the rack between the two parts of the lounge.
Bathrooms
Outside the loungeAccess
Anyone can access the Aspire Bristol Lounge by paying on the door, at a starting price of £22.99 (which rises to £26.99 between April and October) for three hours before their flight.
Priority Pass and Loungekey are accepted.
Video: Aspire Lounge
