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EXCLUSIVE: Get £15 of free beer, in a Gatwick bar, with Priority Pass or Lounge Club

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OK, this is a weird one, but I can’t help thinking that it will be welcomed by some Head for Points readers.

Priority Pass and Lounge Club, the airport lounge access cards, have opened a new lounge at Gatwick South.  Remember that British Airways moved to Gatwick South two weeks ago, so this is very timely.

The new lounge is …. a bar.

To be precise …. The Grain Store Cafe & Bar.

Obviously this is not an airport lounge.  It’s a bar.  In an airport.

The terms and conditions are simple.  Turn up at The Grain Store Cafe & Bar, flash your Priority Pass or Lounge Club card, and you will receive £15 per person off your bill.  You can charge as many guests as you like to your pass, although you will obviously be recharged later on if you are beyond your guesting limit.

This is quite tempting.  I have an American Express Platinum card which comes with two free Priority Pass cards.  Each allows me a free guest.  If my wife and I turn up at The Grain Store Cafe & Bar with our kids, we will get a £60 discount on our bill.  And if we’re still hungry or thirsty, we can pop into the No 1 Lounge anyway …..

This is also a decent way of using the two Lounge Club passes that come with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold.  ‘Take out our card and get £30 of free beer’ – now that’s a selling point.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (October 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

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

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

10,000 points bonus – plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (99)

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

  • Tom says:

    Food is pretty decent there too!

  • Hingeless says:

    If you have a priority pass and have to pay for each lounge visit you would be worse off doing this !

    My PP allows me two visits a year with no guests, these have to be a different lounge or different days, but I would be better off saving them for real lounges

    • the real harry1 says:

      which PP is that, that gives 2 visits a year with no guests?

      & how is getting £15 of free beer but getting charged £15 going to make you worse off? – they cancel out

      • John says:

        They only cancel out if in the absence of the lounge card he would have spent £15 on those beers anyway.

  • Vish says:

    Slightly OT. With the lounge pass that comes with AMEX gold, what have people’s experiences been with taking children. Ie I have 2 kids under the age of 10. Would 2 passes get a family of 4 in at a lounge in T3, or is it purely upto the person on the day and if they want to do it as goodwill?

    • the real harry1 says:

      I’ve always been charged the £15 (or used up a free pass) to get my kids in @ No1 T3 (admittedly slightly older kids, eg times such as 8, 10 & 12) – though LP not accepted there anyway

      I think Plaza Premium offers a discount for kids but that would be off the full price presumably, not off £15 Lounge Pass reduced rate

      they would generally not charge for a baby – but expect to be charged for any child over (say) 3 unless you were born pleasant 🙂 – the younger they are, the more likely you can wing it

      • Zoe says:

        I managed to ‘wing’ my 21 year old into the BA lounge at Newark over Xmas. I had popped out a couple of times and told the lady on the desk I’d be back shortly once I’d taken my daughter a book. She asked why she wasn’t in the lounge, I explained she was flying economy and she told me to fetch her. Gave her a dinner ticket as she came in. I was very happy

    • Chris C says:

      I think it’ll depend on the lounge. If you download the lounge directory from PP, it’ll list conditions regarding young children, at the least it appears that under 2’s are admitted free, but at a glance the age limit goes up to under 12’s in some lounges.

  • Anon says:

    So will Rob be visiting this bar before or after he reviews the new BA lounge at LGW??

    #HeadForPints 🙂

  • Paul says:

    I have the priority pass from my Amex. Generally if i wanted to take in a third person in to any lounge, what’s the cost? £15 per additional person?

  • Russell says:

    Is there a minimum spend on the £15, or does that equate to three totally free pints?

    Does this count as one of your two free visits on the Amex Gold Lounge Club, or can this be used an unlimited number of times?

    • Rob says:

      No minimum spend, but no change if you spend less than £15.

      It does count as one of your free Lounge Club visits.

  • BrotherBear says:

    O/T – Japan

    Going there in the summer and we’ll end up with at least 5 days in Tokyo and 4 in Kyoto (and maybe Osaka). We also want some relaxing time on a beach and so will be going to the southwest islands for approx a week. Has anyone been down that way before with any recommendations? Doesn’t seem to be an abundance of nice looking accommodation. Ideally want somewhere with a few bars and restaurants for the evenings. Think we’ll spend a few days on the main Okinawa island (Naha) but can’t decide which other island to visit.

    Thanks in advance.

    • Mac says:

      Stayed at the Doubletree in Naha for 4 nights in September booked during a Hilton 40% off sale for circa £60 per night. Next to the monorail to/from the airport and walkable to the main shopping and entertainment street. Would happily go back there again. There’s a Nippon Rent A Car 3 blocks away, hired a car from them for 2 days to explore the island including the very impressive aquarium on the northwest of the island and the WW2 naval headquarters to the south, and some nice quiet beaches in between. Picked up a promotional flyer from the brochure rack in the monorail station offering 50% off the standard rate at that location only, then had the concierge at the Doubletree call and make the reservation. NB an International Driving Permit (from the Post Office) is essential, zero exceptions. Ishigaki is noticeably less populous than Naha, but don’t expect any of them to feel like a deserted atoll.

      • ankomonkey says:

        +1 for Ishigaki, but most of the Okinawa islands will be sweltering in summer.

    • Genghis says:

      Okinawa Island is quite built up. Ishigaki is lovely. For something a bit different try some hiking in Yakushima (just south of Kyushu) and sand onsen in Ibusuki right at the south of Kyushu. Best onsen in Japan I found was close to where I lived = Kurokawa onsen in the centre of Kyushu where you can try the local specialty, horse meat sashimi (basashi).

      • Prince Polo says:

        +1 for Kurokawa Onsen (you can fly into Kumamoto or Fukuoka – both places also merit a visit).

        Btw, spedning Avios on JAL is a good deal as there are hardly any taxes, but Sakitoku fares are also super cheap if you book in advance.

        Some JL routes (e.g. operated by “Japan Transocean”) are not bookable online, so you have to call BA to book (and sometimes convince the agent that JTA is part of JAL)

        • Waribai says:

          If you fly into Fukuoka it is worth spending a night or two there as the city has some sights to see a unique vibe, great seafood and decent accommodation options. Hilton Seahawk Fukuoka is a favourite of ours. We always book a standard room in the sale and then email requesting an upgrade to a suite as Diamond members. Nice pool too but chargeable. However, if you complain enough they will waive the charges. YMMV.

          Call me weird but my favourite sightseeing destinations on Kyushu are the two kamikaze pilot museums at Chiran and Tachiarai. Tachiarai is less commercial and family run. Both though like many experiences in Japan are very unique visits.

        • Nigel says:

          We flew a domestic JAL flight last year as an avios redemption – excellent value, but overall not a great experience. I have never experienced so much g-force on a commercial flight – in fact not since I had a few flying lessons and my instructor was showing off. There were a couple of waves of nausea climbing out of Osaka as though somebody was sitting on our chests. I assumed the pilot was in a bad mood, though hard to tell since the pilots made no announcements at any point before or during the flight.

          • BrotherBear says:

            Really appreciate everyone’s comments. Shows what a great selection of experiences we have amongst HFP users. Will be doing some research based upon all your suggestions.

            Thanks again

  • s879 says:

    Can we order food and soft/hot drinks as opposed to beer?

    • Rob says:

      Yes, anything. I thought ‘beer’ would attract more attention from the typical HFP reader though!

      • Brian says:

        Oh dear, I can foresee people getting as upset about that as they were with Anika’s ‘shirtgate’ review… :))

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

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