What a mess the new airport operator has made of Gatwick Village. Don't go there looking for Tie Rack, McDonalds, Salisburys, Rolling Luggage, Claire's Accessories, Post Office, Frankie & Bennys, Spudulike, Bookshop, Burger King, Virgin Megastore, Garfunkels, etc - All long gone. A couple of naff cafes and a Wetherspoons (only asset to the New Gatwick Village) are all that stand here nowadays.

Luckily the North Terminal is still pretty much the same as it was.

The new South Terminal security area is no quicker than the old one (only half-manned, even on a busy friday afternoon), rude staff, you have to put the tray back yourself and the queue length times indicated on the displays need to be multiplied by 3 to be anywhere near accurate!

Don't even get me started on the hang-gliders... ;)

Flyer - if you want a McDonalds, Claire's Accessories or to buy a tie, might I suggest visiting your local High Street ?

I rather like the idea that the purpose of going to an airport is to fly, and am keen to encourage airport operators to make it easier for passengers to pass through an airport easily (e.g. keep security queue times down) at the expense of a bigger shopping mall.

The next time you're heading off to Gatwick and would like the shopping experience, might I suggest a trip to Westfield in White City or Stratford the day beforehand ? If you're really desperate on the day for some retail therapy, there's a shopping mall on the 1st floor of London's Victoria station... ! :O

I've been through it at least three times in the last few weeks and found it efficient and well run.

Tie Rack, McDonalds, Salisburys, Rolling Luggage, Claire's Accessories, Post Office, Frankie & Bennys, are of no interest to me (I suppose a Post Office might be) and as for Wetherspoons that ranks along with MuckDonalds in my book. Vile places. So the new arrangements suit me but perhaps I'm in a minority. It will be interesting to see other points of view on this.

Agree with you whole heartedly FlyerGuy although I flew from Gatwick late last year looks like it has not improved. The ´´Gatwick Village´´ was awful and security well rude that is putting it mildly and also had to queue a long time. Not been through the north terminal for some time so cannot comment.

Couldnt agree more that GIP have made the Gatwick village awful

We all have our own opinions on what shops and restaurants if any we want but overall the village is a mess now, I really hate it

and agree re security, its no better

Thankfully they have removed all that crap that was there before................yeah great shops but customer experience in getting airside was awful, it has definitely improved.

Well done GIP as if I want shops I can go elsewhere and as for blaming them well prior to the sale the old management had already closed a lot of them anyway.

Travelled through the South Terminal last November and found plenty of helpful staff willing to direct whilst works were going on and got through security very quickly. I'm with the others here - if I want to go shopping, I'll go to a shopping centre thanks...