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Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines are opening a pop-up pub in Holborn

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For no logical reason whatsoever, Virgin Atlantic and its joint venture partner (and 49% shareholder) Delta are opening a pub.  For 10 days.

“The Joint Venture” will be at 33 New Oxford Street and is taking over “The Old Crown”.  New Oxford Street is not Oxford Street, it is to the east of Tottenham Court Road.

If you’re interested in craft beer then this is definitely one for you, as the pub will be selling 230 different brands – one from each of the 230 cities which Delta and Virgin fly to in the US.

It opens NEXT Friday 10th August and closes on Sunday 19th.  There are various events planned throughout the week including quiz nights – details are on the Virgin Atlantic website here.

Note that, whilst the website doesn’t mention this, the press release I received says that they will be giving away free flights to the winners of the quiz nights …..

There is a press opening party next Thursday so I will pop along and see what it is like.


How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (October 2024)

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

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points and the free card has a bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

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 comes with 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

The Platinum Card from American Express

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

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

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 Virgin Points

(Want to earn more Virgin Points?  Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)

Comments (85)

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

  • ChrisC says:

    I had a quick play (isn’t insomnia great?) and there is a small logo in a black triangle to the top right if you use one of their stock pictures but not if you use one if your own.

    They can only be delivered to the UK, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

    You do have to agree to receive their newsletters but I suppose you can always change that later

    • Zoe says:

      I can’t get a +44 in the phone number field I guess mobile number then UK will have to do, must be alpha numeric.

      • Helen says:

        I can’t get the webpage to accept my postcode. Otherwise I have been able to download my photo easily.

        • nigelg52 says:

          I had the same problem It will not accept a space in the post code !!!

      • RussellH says:

        It is not just the required + in the phone number it objects to, but also the hyphen in my e-mail address and the space between the two halves of my postcode. Plus, the number field is compulsory (nowhere round here has house numbers) and I could not put a comma in the one field provided for street name (and the village where I live).
        Who designs this rubbish? It looks like a typical German/Austrian/Swiss/Belgian address form, but with also sorts of added nonsense.

        • Alex says:

          Yes, also had to remove hyphen, comma and + from phone number, then all worked OK. Looks like my 3 yrs old is getting bunch of tags with her happy face on them 🙂

  • Cat says:

    O/T Hi all, one last cheeky attempt (tried the suggested websites without any luck!). Is any kind soul flying out of T5 tomorrow afternoon, who wouldn’t mind guesting me into a lounge? Flying long haul in economy would be so much easier after a few quiet glasses of wine in a lounge! I will be flying First in CX next year and will attempt to return the favour…

    • Rich says:

      There are lounges at T5 that you can get into without having to beg,….

    • RK says:

      Hi Cat
      I shall be at Galleries South T5 between 13.00 and 14.30, happy to guest you in
      DM @theofficialrk

      Best
      RK

    • RK says:

      Sorry CAT, am there today not tomorrow, misread original thread

  • IslandDweller says:

    Pedant mode. It’s not tickets issued by another train company. They’re all operated by GoVia. Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern and Express are just brand names – they’re not separate companies.

    • Andrew says:

      Pedant mode. Last ticket I bought for travel between Gatwick & London was issued on the train between Linlithgow and Edinburgh Park by Scotrail.

      • John says:

        Yes, impartial retailing is a thing, but what does that have to do with GN, TL, SN and GX all being operated by GTR?

  • KBuffett says:

    OT – SPG Platinum members are entitled to free priority boarding on Emirates for people who had link their accounts before 15th July. Shame I only found out yesterday!

  • Benylin says:

    Did this Etihad tag a while ago when I saw it on Hukd. It takes a very long time for delivery, roughly 2 months.

  • Anna says:

    OT – are people still missing MR transfers to BAEC? I got an email from Amex on the 26th saying my avios transfer was complete, however they still haven’t shown up in my BAEC account, nor have this month’s avios from my BAPP, 26,000 in total!

    • RussellH says:

      I transferred the 9000 points my partner got for referring me to BA on Saturday night. They arrived late on Sunday, so we cancelled her card there and then, as it had gone one day into the second year.

  • Derek Broughton says:

    I don’t think the Virgin pop up pub is for “no logical reason”. The dates do overlap with camra’s Great British Beer Festival.

  • Tim says:

    Rob: do you have a source for the Govia Thameslink fare rules? I’m a regular traveller to Gatwick and using the Gatwick Express would be nice, but I want proof I can show to any officious ticket inspectors.

    • Jay says:

      Tim you can see it on the Thameslink website under Timetable Information and the heading ‘What alternative routes are available?’

    • Rob says:

      It came from an internal document circulated to staff but may well be on the website.

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

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