Tea in London..without breaking the bank!

Well, you've landed on a couple of the more expensive ones. The tea at Kensington Palace has been recommended as a little less expensive. My London friends love the Wolseley, not sure what the prices are but I think you need reservations. There have been several threads about afternoon tea, have you tried searching (not that searching works alll that well). A couple of places I looked into (but didn't end up going to) were the British Museum (upstairs, not the cafeteria) and the National Gallery. Keep in mind that afternoon tea is a lot of food, it's not a just a snack, so consider that as well.

I refuse to pay the exhorbitant price just to have afternoon tea someplace that has a famous name. I did end up having tea at the National Gallery, but only because I was already there, and I needed a break. The tea was lovely and well priced. Plus, I ended up skipping dinner that night because I was still full, lol.

Well, heck, if you want to have afternoon tea in London, and I suspect you have spent mucho dinero to be there, why not have a nice afternoon tea? I wasn't at all impressed with the Nat'l Gallery afternoon tea, though my sister-in-law found it OK. Do you want OK or do you want a nice London afternoon tea you will remember? We did have tea once at Fortnum and Mason's and it was lovely.

Have enjoyed afternoon tea on two occasions at Kensington Palace (The Orangery is now known as the Pavilion) - the setting is lovely, the food was delicious and plentiful, the servers were wonderful, and my husband and I felt comfortable there dressed as "tourists". (They were even able to accommodate my husband's need for a gluten-free version.) According to the website, the current price is 30 GBP vs. 55 GBP at Harrod's. They also serve other meals if you feel this is a splurge for the afternoon tea.

https://www.caffeconcerto.co.uk/menu/kensington/afternoon-tea-cream-tea.html#menu

I had a very nice afternoon tea at Caffe Concerto across the street from Whole Foods in Kensington and around the corner from Kensington Palace. It was very reasonably priced.

The Park View Room at the Imperial War Museum has a pretty good (and affordable) selection of teas, cakes and sandwiches etc for their afternoon tea time.

For 22 GBP u can have aftrernoon tea at the Wallace Collection Museum(Manchester square) cafe. Entry is free to this great museum nr Portsmouth Square. I often enjoy a meal there also for a reasonable price and great ambiance under the dome. Ck it out, u should be pleased. Champagne tea also avail for additional cost.

The Cafe in the Crypt under St Martins in the Fields church in Trafalgar Square is a great building and offers afternoon tea for £20 pp.

hey nancy
what is your price range? check out afternoonteaonline.co.uk. under london had lots of places with prices, menu and times.
b-bakery.com does a big red bus tour around parts of london.
you've been given a few suggestions here, so it's eenie meenie minie mo. enjoy and have fun
aloha

My preferred way to do tea is to do it late as dinner or earlier as lunch and then just a sandwich for dinner. When it replaces a meal, it doesn't seem as exorbitant. And for those able to spend more, I agree that Fortnum and Mason's is lovely, as is the Pump Room in Bath. I've been to both the Wolseley and Harrod's and neither was as atmospheric. The service at the Wolseley is really good-we were running late for our reservation and called them. They said no problem and seated us as soon as we walked in the door. For me, a really nice tea is my preference as my splurge meal in London. A nice quiet atmosphere with piano music is so restful! And neither F&M or Pump Room require you to dress up, which is another reason I would never go to the Ritz for tea.

Tea at the Wallace Collection or the former Orangery at Kensington Palace may suit you price wise. We have had lunch/dinner at the crypt under St Martins but I don't see it as a special place for afternoon tea. The Queen, Camilla, and Kate had tea at Fortnum and Mason so I imagine they do a very nice tea. We had a late lunch there and it was quite good but expensive--nice atmosphere.

I used this list to choose my afternoon tea location for my upcoming trip. There is a large range of options listed, surely something to meet any need.

https://www.cntraveller.com/gallery/best-afternoon-tea-in-london

We made reservations at The Wolseley. They seem to mentioned on about every list and are reasonably priced.

https://www.olivemagazine.com/restaurants/london/best-afternoon-tea-london/

I was researching tea in London a month ago and found a recommendation for the Imperial War Museum, which I want to visit anyway. The price was much better than some of the other establishments.

I also did some research on Cream Tea and found:

The Dalloway
The Ivy Chelsea
Ivy Marylebone
Ivy Market in Covent Garden
The Wolseley
The Montague

JS and Susan: my husband and I are planning on having afternoon tea at the Wallace collection Museum. We read about it and it sounded great and the price was right. Besides, how can you beat an art museum for ambience? Thanks for the encouragement.

We have just returned from 17 days in England. We didn't actually have tea in London this trip, since we had some lovely teas in Oxford that were not as expensive. We did try to repeat a lovely experience we had last year having afternoon tea at St. Paul's Cathedral, but it seems that it is now being run by a different caterer and the foods offered were not as nice as before, so we didn't pursue it.
As soon as I got home I found this link for an afternoon tea at the Maritime Museum in Greenwich that sounded very nice - you have to book ahead but the price is right. https://www.rmg.co.uk/see-do/we-recommend/attractions/royal-afternoon-tea .