Plaza Premium London Gatwick Lounge North Terminal
The Plaza Premium Gatwick lounge looks, feels, even smells like a Virgin Atlantic Lounge: and that's because it is.
It used to be the Virgin Atlantic Gatwick Clubhouse, and the investment in materials and design clearly shows, with the layout and furniture almost identical to how it was as a Clubhouse.
There is a great marble bar, two great seating areas with lovely sweeping seats and fabulous views, plus a children's playroom, showers, and a buffet.
If you want Virgin Atlantic style, on a Ryanair budget, this is the lounge to head for, although it certainly isn't the cheapest of the Gatwick options.
London Gatwick North Terminal Plaza Premium lounge review
The new Plaza Premium Lounge at London Gatwick's North Terminal is a small bijou lounge on the top floor of the terminal.
It used to be a tiny sanctuary away from the vast rabble of bucket and spaders milling around Gatwick North, but now, with the change of owners, all of them are in here. In peak holiday times, the lounge can be packed, and then some.
Once past security, and through duty free, head to the 'lounge corridor' and head to the top floor. There, the Virgin logo has been removed - although you can still see the outline - and replaced with a Plaza Premium logo.
Up the corridor, and past the reception pod, you enter the lounge - and what a lounge. It certainly is like no other Plaza lounge on the planet, and the Virgin influence is clear. Spot the small feature on the ceiling with little gold birds, and then the circular lights, all pure Virgin.
There are vast floor-to-ceiling windows with lots of light. There are plenty of seats along the windows, and those on the right are vast circular sofas: totally wasted on the usual solo passengers who sit there.
You enter into the main 'loungy' part of the lounge, with plenty of widely spaced seats: Plaza have decided not to put any extra seats in here. This is both wise, as the area feels wide, open, and inviting, and unfortunate, as it can get packed, with passengers sitting on the floor.
Then as you walk around, there is the small buffet area to your left, while the large marble bar is to your right, in two halves, separated by a pillar.
Further along there are a couple of arched 'nooks' which are wonderful to sit in, as they are very private. These are separated from the main dining and sitting part of the lounge, which has the most amazing monochrome dazzling floor tiles, in a zig zag pattern: restful it is not.
Here there are all sorts of different seating options, from the red bucket chairs in the middle, to chairs overlooking the runway, and long dining tables in the window.
Finally, occupying a large part of the lounge is a woodland themed play area for younger travellers, which takes up a huge amount of space, and noise also reverberates through the lounge: this is separated from another seating area with just a few vertical posts, and so it can seem like you are sitting drinking, while in a playground: it isn't the most comfortable of places.
All the way through there are the most amazing views of the runways from the corner location, right at the top of the building.
Food
There is a large dining section: alas the full complimentary to order brunch menu bit the dust after Virgin left, and now it is a buffet only ordering affair.At breakfast time the small buffet area offers cereals, bread, rolls, cold cuts of ham, and cheeses.
There is also a small fridge cabinet with bowls of fruit salad.
Don't miss the 'artisan bakery' shelf with sliced wholemeal, and a jar of peanut butter.
By lunchtime this moves on to a better more widespread selection of hot food in five tubs, with pasta, rice, curry, something with chicken and veggies.
There is also a small salad bar, which is better than you might expect with a bowl of greens and various things to add to it like olives and tomatoes.
Bar
The centrepiece of the London Gatwick North Terminal Plaza Premium lounge is a marble bar, and the lounge has partnered with East London cocktail bar White Lyan for a selection of exclusive cocktails.Of course there is a small wine selection, but the beer selection is vast: all the bottles are arranged along the bar top.
Almost all beer and wine is complementary, but there is a charge for some of the most expensive drops.
Business Facilities
Free wifi, and a newspaper rack in the main corridor, is pretty much your lot.The newspaper rack has lots of Chinese newspapers, as the lounge is used by Chinese airlines as their home lounge.
Bathrooms
The bathrooms have also not changed since virgin days, and feature individual cubicles, with black and diamond tiles.Just around the corner from the main lounge is the small spa area, again a Virgin hangover. Treatments are OK, but there can be a long waiting list.
Access
Gone are the heavy restrictions of the Virgin Atlantic Gatwick Lounge, and the London Gatwick North Terminal Plaza Premium lounge is open to all - for a fee.
Typically this is around £44 for 2 hours, which is quite expensive in lounge terms.
However the lounge once again takes priority pass, and this can work out to be a much cheaper option.
Video: Plaza Premium Lounge North
Great bar
Can be packed