Originally Posted by
Ph1l1pncl
....The airport was voted the worst in the UK for food and beverage offering.....
It's not just the main departure area that is a mess, the Aspire Business Lounge can be pretty dreadful as well. It's not really a "Business Lounge" in the true sense of the word, simply a place where the holidaying mass are now able to gather to imbibe themselves on free booze.
On an early morning in the holiday season it's packed with noisy IT punters well on their way to being "slaughtered". Apart from being rather unpleasant for those looking for peace & relaxation, then the catering is very poor & in reality one could expect better in one of the forecourt caff's.
I don't know if this is just embarrassingly a Geordie thing!, but conversely I have never experienced this in any of the many overseas lounges I have used, irrespective if located at "bucket & spade destinations" such as TFS, even the perennial Russians are no where near as much hassle...
Incidentally the Aspire + is little better, maybe the "mob control" is to an extent controlled, but still the same old food offering, & small concession to having the only "non artificial" lighting in whole place with a few windows looking out into a corridor.
These things could be controlled to an extent, by issuing drink tickets, as in American Airlines lounges in US, perhaps if they addressed same at NCL then the money saved on excessive alcohol consumption could enhance catering product.
Better still where possible use BA / One World lounge and at NCL, eliminate all the above problems in one go.