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Review: the Eurostar London St Pancras Business Premier lounge

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This is our review of the Eurostar Business Premier lounge at London St Pancras station.

For me, it was my actually my first ever proper visit – and, shockingly, my first ever Eurostar trip – following the press party I attended in the lounge last month.

Remember that you can access this lounge with a personal American Express Platinum card – there is no need to book an expensive Business Premier ticket.

Eurostar Business Premier lounge St Pancras

Entrance to the lounge is on the right hand side of the concourse – it’s easy to spot as you can see above.

You either have to be travelling in Business Premier or have Carte Blanche status to get in, unless you have a personal UK, French or Belgian American Express Platinum card. There is no option to pay. If you go through the fast track security and passport line it is literally ten seconds additional walk.

The geometry of the station and the available space means that the lounge is long and thin. It does, however, get plenty of natural light thanks to its large windows overlooking Kings Cross.

It is split over two floors:

Eurostar Business Premier lounge St Pancras downstairs

Whilst the ground floor was very busy, the upper floor was virtually deserted. It did fill up considerably just prior to departure when two trains were due to leave within five minutes of each other.

Access is via a shiny spiral staircase.

Eurostar Business Premier lounge St Pancras staircase

At the top you are greeted by the cocktail bar, very busy here just before the trains left:

Eurostar Business Premier lounge St Pancras cocktail bar (2)

This is one of the standout features of the Business Premier lounge. The bar opens at 3pm and is staffed by Marius who will make you any cocktail you want. From May you should be able to order the Amaretto cocktail I named (yes, I named a cocktail for Eurostar – it’s a long story!) – Snow Bird.

Eurostar Business Premier lounge St Pancras cocktail bar

British Airways doesn’t even have mixologists in its Galleries First lounges at Heathrow so this is a big plus for Eurostar. There is a similar cocktail bar in the Paris lounge.

Further on is a small self-serve drinks area with wines, spirits and soft drinks:

Eurostar Business Premier lounge St Pancras drinks

and

Eurostar Business Premier lounge St Pancras spirirts

…. plus a few snacks. Food has never been a big selling point of the lounge from what I can gather and the best you’ll get is a variety of bar snacks, small cakes and samosas:

Eurostar Business Premier lounge St Pancras snacks

Given the proportions of the space most of the lounge has just has pairs of seats:

Eurostar Business Premier lounge St Pancras armchairs

I found myself an armchair and settled down with my Snow Bird!

Eurostar Business Premier lounge St Pancras armchair

and

Eurostar Business Premier lounge St Pancras cocktail

All the seats come with power sockets and wireless charging pads, which is great.

Eurostar Business Premier lounge St Pancras plugs

The selection of magazines and newspapers was outstanding – better than any airport lounge I know.

(It is pretty poor that British Airways still isn’t stocking actual, physical copies of newspapers and magazines in its lounges yet. This is especially true at Gatwick where the airport makes newspapers and magazines freely available by the gates whilst BA’s racks in the lounges remain empty.)

Eurostar Business Premier lounge St Pancras magazine selection

Newspapers included The Times, Le Monde and FT. The rack above is just a fraction of the selection available across the two floors of the lounge.

Conclusion

Natural light, a cocktail bar, self-pour spirit and drinks – you can’t really ask for more. The food offering is slim but then you can expect a full meal service if travelling in Business Premier.

It can get crowded during busy periods but having looked at the schedules it’s rare to have two full trains leave within minutes of each other.

Remember that Eurostar lounge access is a benefit of American Express Platinum (see our new review here) – just show your card at the door.  It is not a benefit of Business Platinum. No guests are allowed but obviously your partner could come in if they were your free Platinum supplementary cardholder.  The lounge is also known to show leniency towards additional child-sized guests at weekends.


How to get Club Eurostar points and lounge access from UK credit cards

How to get Club Eurostar points and lounge access from UK credit cards (April 2024)

Club Eurostar does not have a UK credit card.  However, you can earn Club Eurostar points by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards

Cards earning Membership Rewards points include:

Membership Rewards points convert at 15:1 into Club Eurostar points.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, so you will get the equivalent of 1 Club Eurostar point for every £15 you spend.

American Express Platinum comes with a great Eurostar benefit – Eurostar lounge access!  

You can enter any Eurostar lounge, irrespective of your ticket type, simply by showing The Platinum Card at the desk.  No guests are allowed but you can get entry for your partner by issuing them with a free supplementary Amex Platinum card on your account.

Comments (40)

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

  • Michael C says:

    Wish the cocktail bar opened at 0900h…but maybe that’s just me!

    • Mark says:

      The bar works as a smoothie bar for morning departures. I am pretty sure that is up and running now – I asked the mixologist when I was there and I am sure he suggested it was open.

      Food offering sometimes better downstairs sometimes (seem to be more cakey things down there in addition to the savory offering)

  • JandeW says:

    This is a top quality lounge but if you are travelling to and returning from Amsterdam, it is in stark contrast to the dreadful facilities (or lack thereof) available at Amsterdam Centraal Station. See my recent review in the HFP forum.

    • ChrisC says:

      The facilties were built just for the eurostar services security and immigration on a relativly narrow platform that is used for many other services each day that don’t require them.

      There are plenty of facilities at Centraal to get food and drink just not on the platform.

      When I came back from AMS on eurostar it bothered me not one jot

      • John says:

        Maybe they should close the St Pancras lounge too since it bothers me not one jot that I’ve never gone in and never will.

  • Mark says:

    Cocktail bar is a breakfast smoothie bar first thing in the morning which is a novelty. Food offering could be better but not the end of the world.

  • DreamingOfFirstClass says:

    Do they have one at Dover ?

    • Rob says:

      Eurotunnel, not Eurostar. Different businesses. Same tunnel.

      • RussellH says:

        I am reminded of the people who, in the early days of Eurostar, arrived at Waterloo International and asked where the loading bay for their car was…
        🙂

    • Rhys says:

      Also the Eurotunnel is from Folkestone, not Dover 🙂

  • DreamingOfFirstClass says:

    Marius will make me any cocktail I want, nice.

    THE AUNT ROBERTA
    CONSIDERED TO BE THE STRONGEST COCKTAIL IN THE WORLD.
    GIN, VODKA, ABSINTHE, BRANDY AND BLACKBERRY LIQUOR ARE MIXED TOGETHER IN EQUAL PARTS ARE USED TO CREATE THIS LETHAL MIX.
    ACCORDING TO ANCIENT FOLKLORE, THE DRINK WAS CREATED BY THE DAUGHTER OF A SLAVE OWNER IN 1800S ALABAMA. ‘ROBERTA WAS SAID TO HAVE FLED HER ABUSIVE HOME BEFORE TURNING TO PROSTITUTION. SHE THEN MOVED ON TO THE MOONSHINE BUSINESS WHERE SHE USED TO SELL THIS DRINK TO HER CUSTOMERS LOOKING TO DROWN THEIR SORROWS.’

    GIN: 40 PER CENT ALCOHOL
    VODKA: 40 PER CENT ALCOHOL
    BRANDY: 40 PER CENT ALCOHOL
    BLACKBERRY LIQUEUR: 40 PER CENT ALCOHOL
    ABSINTHE: 45 PER CENT ALCOHOL

    • Rob says:

      They have a bottle of Absinthe – I tried some, neat, at the press event – so he probably could do it!

    • Lady London says:

      Boom!
      Only one of those, I think!

  • Mike says:

    Do you need to actually swipe / register your Plat Amex or just show it ? Reason I ask is I have two ( his and hers) in date ( within the card expiry date) Plat Amex cards but they sit on cancelled accounts.

    • phr says:

      They just examine the card to check if it’s UK, French or Belgian. No swiping.

  • Chas says:

    It’s worth noting as well (unless I missed it in the review), that only personal Plat cards get you access. Business Plat cards don’t get you in, and you’ll also be refused entry if you have a US issued card or the ICC (dollar or euro variants).

    • cinereus says:

      Do they really check that closely?

      • Chas says:

        I’ve heard that they do, but I’m going there towards the end of the month and have both personal and business plats, so can test it out properly. If I remember….

      • Julien says:

        Yes, it’s only physical personal card. From UK, France, Belgium Netherlands and euro dollars only. Not business card.

    • MD says:

      Eurostar lounge entry is clearly listed as a benefit on the Platinum ICC website. Do you have personal experience of being turned away with an ICC?

  • sloth says:

    Agree this is a great lounge and with the rest of the article apart from the last sentence. When i have tried they have never let me bring my kids in (which i appreciate they don’t have to)

    • Seagull says:

      I think it is very dependent on who is on the door. On a weekend trip 3 weeks ago we had no success in getting our 2 kids in at London, but not a problem when coming back from Paris. In my view the Paris lounge is far nicer, especially if you snag one of those very private booths overlooking the platforms and near the cocktail bar!

      • sloth says:

        Yes agreed, I like the Paris one also but all those booths are normally gone when i have been there. And never any food in my experience apart from nuts/crisps and fruit? Looking forward to trying out the Brussels lounge this weekend!

        • Chas says:

          Don’t get your hopes up about Brussels… I’ve only been in that lounge once (3 years ago), and there wasn’t anything special about it. Much, much smaller (as you’d expect), and even more limited food offering. I’ll be there again later this month, so interested to see if it’s changed much.

          • sloth says:

            Will see how i get on and try to remember to update you

          • Chas says:

            Thanks. Enjoy the beer that Belgium has to offer. 🍻

          • Sloth says:

            Returned from Brussels on the last train tonight. Got in the lounge with no issues using Amex plat, friendly staff. Lounge is basically a windowless box but has numerous comfy seats, usual soft drinks, 4 different Belgian beers tried 2 including a Trappist one, both of which were good, 6 different premium spirits and a coffee machine. No food really other than nuts/nibbles.

            St Pancras had a reasonable breakfast offering on Friday lunchtime, including cereal, breads, croissants, juices etc and the smoothies and tea/coffee

          • Sloth says:

            That should say Friday breakfast…

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

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