On this page (3 sections)
What you get
A buffet, a fully tended bar with drinks included, workspaces and runway views, the standard all-rounder set-up.
The No1 Lounge is the lounge most people picture when they think of paying to wait in comfort at Birmingham. Food is a hot and cold buffet, freshly prepared and self-served, and the bar is fully tended, pouring beers, wines, English sparkling wine and spirits, all included in the entry price with only Champagne charged extra. It is a proper drinks offer rather than a token bar, so a couple of rounds and a plate of food can cover a fair slice of the entry cost on their own.
Around that, you get the things that make a wait bearable: comfortable seating, free and unlimited wifi, workspaces for anyone with an hour to fill or a laptop to open, a TV lounge, and runway views to watch the aircraft come and go. Booking direct also brings delay cover, a useful extra if your flight is the kind that slips. It sits airside on the first floor, so you reach it once you are through security.
Price, hours and access
From £40 direct, but cheaper through a lounge card or a reseller; open 04:00 to 21:00, entry up to three hours before your flight.
The headline price is from £40 a head booked directly, but that is the operator's rack rate and rarely the cheapest way in. Reseller and booking platforms often list the same lounge lower, from around £22 to £28, and if you hold Priority Pass, DragonPass or a similar card, entry can drop to a few pounds or come free with the membership. The one rule that always holds: booking ahead beats paying on the door, on both price and the certainty of a seat. The lounges guide lays out the cheapest current routes into every lounge, this one included.
The No1 Lounge is open daily from 04:00 to 21:00, and you can normally get in up to three hours before your flight. That early start is part of the appeal: on a dawn departure, when the concourse is half-asleep, the lounge has coffee, breakfast and a seat from first thing. Because entry is capped to roughly three hours before departure, it suits a longer wait rather than a dash to the gate.
What to expect
A reliable all-rounder that can get overwhelmed at peak; book ahead, and weigh it against Clubrooms and Aspire.
The honest picture is a solid, good-value lounge that occasionally strains at the seams. Reviews are mostly positive on the food, the drinks and the friendly service, but the recurring complaint is capacity: at the morning peak, when Birmingham's holiday flights leave in a block, the No1 Lounge can get crowded and the walk-up queue can build. The fix is simple, book a seat ahead if you are flying between roughly 05:00 and 08:00, and you skip both the higher walk-up price and the uncertainty.
Against the alternatives, the No1 Lounge is the value all-rounder. Clubrooms, from the same operator, costs a little more but adds table service, an a la carte menu and Fast Track. Aspire Lounge South can be cheaper still if you book ahead. The full lounge comparison ranks all six on price, access and what you get, and the departure lounge overview covers everything else airside.