Lounge Review: LHR T5B British Airways Club Lounge
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Opened in 2008 along with the T5A lounges, until late 2023 the T5B lounge hadn’t received any real refurbishment and was the most tired of the T5 lounges by a long stretch. The lounge had received a smattering of the furniture from the LGW North Terminal First and Terraces lounges when those lounges closed in 2017, but much of the rest of the fit-out remained original.
BA progressively refurbished the lounge in the second half of 2023, so by the time most of the photos in this report were taken in November of that year, the majority of the work had been completed. This refurbishment, as with those undertaken in the T5A and T3 lounges over the last couple of years, was certainly more of a refresh than a full refurbishment, as the bones of the lounge have remained the same. All of the T5 lounges are expected to be fully refurbished in the coming 2-3 years, which will be much more extensive interventions consigning the Galleries concept to the history books. Galleries remains the base concept of this lounge, although the Galleries branding has mostly been removed, and the lounge is now simply branded as the ‘British Airways Club lounge’.
The T5B lounge is located on the mezzanine above gate level, with the entrance via lifts, escalator or stairs between Gates B35 and B36. Note that there is only an escalator going up, not coming back down. With its location in the centre of the satellite terminal building, the view from both sides of the lounge is pleasant, overlooking the gate area internally and out to the aprons beyond. This is particularly handy when boarding from one of the central T5B gates, as you can time your exit from the lounge to coincide with your group number being called.
The lounge has a central reception with desks and luggage storage areas on either side of the lifts. Turning left when facing the lifts will take you to the Whispering Angel bar, a somewhat gaudy sponsorship of what used to be the Wine Gallery. Underneath the plastic cladding is the original wooden bar, which will presumably be revealed again once the sponsorship expires. The original Work and Entertainment Zone at the front of this section has been removed in favour of additional lounge seating, with new retro-style divider screens (incorporating plants) and side tables with integrated lamps, power, USB-A and USB-C sockets running along the length of the space. The far end of this section of the lounge features a Kids Zone, complete with missing apostrophe.
The lounge’s only washrooms (all of which are now unisex) are located behind the Whispering Angel bar and, aside from new doors, have not been refurbished; they retain their original blue lino floor to provide the complete hospital experience. Amenities are the standard Elemis hand wash and lotion. Unlike the T5A lounges, T5B has a normal drainage system where there is no suction noise when flushing the toilet. If you thought the placement of the tissues above the basins in the T5A lounges was bad enough, their location next to the toilet in the T5B lounge is even more undesirable.
The middle portion of the lounge behind the lifts is the lounge’s main space and features a Coffee House, Silver Bar and Chef’s Theatre. The Coffee House has had its original silver bar doors replaced with a trendy shade of green, with a new but somewhat temporary looking hydration station located adjacent to it. Café-style seating was located in front of this area during my November 2023 visit, although by August 2024 a high-top table had been installed in the middle.
The Silver Bar was originally comprised of an island bar bookended by two back bars; the island bar has been converted to a high-top table with integrated power and USB sockets, whilst the back bars remain with new doors. Sofas and armchairs surround this space, with new side tables featuring the same integrated lighting and power provision as over in the Whispering Angel bar. Both bars have had their oak floors beautifully sanded. Bar snacks and popcorn are available at the Silver Bar.
The lounge’s main seating area is located behind the Silver Bar, with a mix of comfortable armchair seating in different fabrics, some with ottomans, and most within easy reach of those new-style side tables with plentiful power. A handful of ex-LGW Terraces lounge armchairs remained at the time of my November 2023 visit, but these have since been removed. The series of original low dividing screens that run along the windows had been covered with curtains by the time of my August 2024 visit; this looks a little half-hearted and is somewhat pointless.
The Chef’s Theatre was greatly enhanced during the refurbishment, with a new tended service station and a new cold buffet to replace that which used to sit around the corner in the area of the lounge to the right of the lifts. With the addition of the tended station, the food offering sits above that of the Club lounges in T5A.
For breakfast, the cold buffet featured a selection of cereal, yogurt, cut fruit and a single type each of meat and cheese. The hot buffet to the left of the tended station offered sausages, bacon, hash browns, scrambled egg, mushrooms, tomatoes and baked beans, with porridge and a selection of pastries available to the right. The tended station was home to overnight oats and a choice of filled bagels and croissants, all of which were made to order. Whole fruit, infused water, juices and a smoothie were available around the corner, where the cold buffet used to be.
Post-breakfast, the cold buffet featured a fairly large selection of salad and tortilla chips. The hot buffet offered fishcakes, pies, pasta, mixed vegetables and mashed potato. Soup and two choices of cake were available to the right of the tended station. The tended station itself had quite an attractive selection of what one might call Ploughman’s items; terrines, pies, scotch eggs, tarts and sausage rolls, along with a selection of cheese and accompaniments. Jacket potatoes and tortilla chips with a selection of accompaniments were also available made fresh to order. Sandwiches were located around the corner, alongside the same drinks selection as breakfast.
Both the breakfast and all-day food selection is much improved over the lounge’s original offering, and places this lounge close to the First lounge. Quality remains an issue, with some of the hot items in particular being on the cheaper end of the spectrum (powdered scrambled eggs, I’m looking at you).
The section of the lounge to the right of the lifts features mostly dining seating, both in banquette and individual table form. The banquette seating features integrated power, USB-A and USB-C sockets. There’s also a Guest Services booth at the start of this section, which was originally a Travelex outlet.
Beyond the dining seating is another Coffee House and recently added hydration station, plus a Work and Entertainment Zone with high-top seating. Bring your own device, as the days of BA-provided desktop computers are long gone. Digital advertising screens had been added in this area by the time of my August 2024 visit; these are very annoyingly located from a distraction point of view when trying to work and serve to cheapen the lounge experience.
The final section of the lounge was once home to the Elemis Travel Spa, but with the permanent closure of the spas at the onset of the pandemic, this area has now been converted to a quiet area. A sofa from the ex-LGW Terraces lounge and a couple of armchairs and coffee tables from the original lounge fit-out remained at the time of my November 2023 visit (along with a veritable jungle of out-of-place plants), but by August 2024 individual seating pods had been added to this area and the jungle effect was slightly less intense, which is a much better use of the space.
Showers are available adjacent to the quiet area, and these have been lightly refreshed with new flooring. Elemis amenities, towels, bathmats and wall-mounted hairdryers are provided, whilst dental and shaving kits are available on request from the showers reception (although I admit to often helping myself to a dental kit from the basket on the desk when un-staffed). Luxurious these showers are not, but they are in much better condition than those in T5A.
BA’s T5B Club lounge has been smartly refurbished to keep it ticking over for the next few years, but it is far from being a revolutionary space. I like the natural light, views and variety of comfortable seating, and the tended food station is a welcome and true enhancement. I will often use this lounge over the First lounge when departing from T5B or T5C, given its often less crowded nature. It remains to be seen what BA will do with their rumoured new T5C lounge that occupies a similar space in T5C as the T5B lounge does in its own satellite, but you can bet that whatever is introduced in T5C will make its way to T5B in the coming years.
And if you’d like to see what the lounge looked like prior to refurbishment, I have some photos in
this broader trip report from April 2022.