The Red Lion (JD Wetherspoon), Crawley

Very busy airside bar in Gatwick's North Terminal. The main bar area is separated from a much larger seating area by a walkway. I bypassed the main seating area to take a look at the pumpclips at the bar to see if I fancied a drink whilst waiting for a flight. The usual Sharp's Doom Bar & Ruddles Best were on, along with 3 guest beers which appeared to be part of a Wetherspoon's festival. The 3 were Twickenham Autumn Red, Hogs Back Citrus & Hook Norton Off the Hook. Returning to a podium at the entrance to the main seating area, we had to wait a few minutes to be seated and were led to a high table towards the edge of the bar area. We were informed that ordering was by the app. Although I later saw others ordering at the bar, which I wish I had done. My first choice was the Citrus, which tasted nothing of the sort. I then ordered the Off the Hook, which looked and tasted exactly the same. I'm almost 100% sure that I ended up with 2 halves of the Hook Norton beer. A fairly soulless place where the staff clearly get the orders wrong and drinks are overpriced for the captive audience. 3 guest beers was a good sign, but unfortunately the positives ended there.

I have been through the North Terminal a few times recently and I am yet to see the end of the bar queue finish within the Red Lion’s boundary, which is marked by an unmissable neon sign. Thankfully the staff are switched on so the wait is no longer than five minutes. The bar is stocked with standard and premium keg products and I counted five cask ale hand pumps. The usual JDW food menu is in place, but unsurprisingly the prices are inflated compared to the high street. The atmosphere is non-existent, but people don’t generally go to the airport to have a few beers. I suppose I’ve been in worse.

North Terminal Spoons beyond public entry. Brilliantly gaudy signage greets you, a jumbo RED LION to be seen from the far end of the walkway. The bar upper is tile and wood with barrel ends jutting out. Cafe bar stylings in terms of furniture and decor. There is far too much seating squashed in making it a nightmare to get back and forth as people and their baggage get in the way. Also a large part of the place basically spills out onto the original concourse, so there’s little to no atmosphere. Five ales on from staid nationals - Pride, Caledonian Deuchars IPA, Hobgoblin, Doom Bar and Pedigree. Expensive by JDW standards, the Deuchars was £3.80 before discount and the Pride £4.20. Both of them were under-par, the Deuchars especially so, tasting of old tin cans. I didn’t, at least, encounter the appalling staff service levels that other reviews seem to have been blighted by. I have to admit I’d think twice before using this one again. At least it’s not Southampton airport bar, I suppose.

This is a Wetherspoons pub located airside in Gatwick Airport's North Terminal. Like most of Wetherspoons' airport venues, this place has an open plan feel, with blurred boundaries that result in people spreading out beyond the confines of the bar area and generally getting in everyone's way. The pub has been given a bright, modern café style look, with distressed floorboards through most of the bar area which also appear on the bar counter and some of the walls. The servery is to the rear, with a high windowed bar back with white tiles above and a large shelving system which holds various seemingly random glass, pottery and copper artefacts. The seating in the main bar area is predominantly high padded metal stools around small high tables, although some short padded bench booths can be found around parts of the perimeter. There is a large LED light display above the entrance that certainly makes the pub easy to spot from across the terminal building and should the bar area get too cramped, there is an overspill area across the walkway out front, which has some comfier seating and a few potted plants to liven things up a little. I never really expect much when drinking in an airport bar, but I do expect some degree of competence from the staff, so it was a shame to see utter chaos at the bar, with staff selecting customers at random and an impromptu queue system forming at one end, provoking arguments between clued up pub goers and bemused travellers. I somehow managed to get served in amongst all this madness, but I was treated to an almost comical go-slow performance from the barmaid and easily the grumpiest service I've seen this year. I came away with a half of the Brewster's Et Citra Et Citra which was flat and slightly hazy but the prospect of having to head back to the bar was too much to bear, so I quietly struggled through it, cheering myself up with thoughts of my impending holiday. A really dire experience then, and one which really didn't need to be so bad. The bar area is actually quite nicely set out and looks a lot better than many other airport bars I've found myself in, but the poor beer and staff attitude is unacceptable and if this is the best Wetherspoons can come up with, I'd rather go without the traditional 'last pint of ale' before flying out of here in the future.

This pub is for airline passengers only.