Lots of airports actually have lockers you can rent for a few hours; train stations always do too.
um.... not so much anymore... too handy for bombs
Gatwick has a place (which airport?).. but kinda steep prices... £6.00 per item per 24 hours or part thereof. Ouch!
i think the luggage will be staying there. like how they change it for you while changing planes because that's what we're doing. when we were in amsterdam we rented to lockers for everything that we didnt check and ran around town. but we have a seven hour layover. i did it on purpose so that we'll have lots of time for good times.