Afternoon Tea in London

Do you think being tacky is part of the experience?

I read that in the guide book and asked myself whether I'd be comfortable doing that. I decided I probably wouldn't. However, I'm a solo traveler who--except on rare occasions when I eat at the bar--takes up a table for 2 every time I go to a restaurant. It wouldn't be economically worse for the restaurant if I were accompanied by someone who ordered a beverage (typically a high-profit item). But it does feel psychologically different to me.

I have been mulling this over because I'll be in London for 2 weeks in August and my travel mate is on a (self-imposed) extremely low-carb diet. She might eat a couple of little finger sandwiches but would have absolutely no interest in an afternoon tea.

Tacky. Ultra tacky. Have a proper afternoon tea late enough in the afternoon and you won't need to have dinner, thus saving even more than if two people share one afternoon tea. I would be very ashamed to take part in such a scheme just for "the experience" of afternoon tea.

Thanks for your honest feedback. I’m not one to participate in schemes to cheat a restaurant. Forgive my social ignorance as we don’t have anything like afternoon tea here in the US. That is why I asked the question. I didn’t want to put our group in an awkward situation while in London.

I didn’t consider having a tea as a meal , but rather an afternoon snack. So now that is how we will approach afternoon tea.

Getting back to another question I posted. Where would you suggest going for tea. Preferably a place where locals go and not one geared for tourists.

Thanks for your time

I expect most "locals" have afternoon tea at home and if not, they are not interested in having an "experience", but just want a good cuppa.

The thing is - locals don't often go for tea.

Nobody in my quite large circle does. When my wife decides a tea would be nice - pretty rarely - we do what others of us do and toddle down to a garden centre (what you would call a nursery - you buy plants and compost and sprays and Miracle Grow there) and have a nice cream tea for somewhere between £5 and £7.50. But mostly we don't.

We may occasionally stop at a cake shop like Tom's in St Ives near Cambridge or the other location actually in Cambridge https://www.tomscakes.co.uk/ and have a cup of tea and a slice of most excellent cake, or just get a couple of slices to take home.

The tea cupboard in my house does have something over 15 types of tea including 6 or 7 of Rooibos (Red Bush) alone. No cake or scones though on a normal day. If we're having folks over we do tend to run down to the supermarket and get a cake.

I know that's not what you want to hear, but among my crowd it is true. We do tend to go to a tea room if we are on holiday. Especially is we are in York or Harrogate and within shooting distance of Betty's.

So I suggest that mostly tourists go for Afternoon Tea.

A quicker, cheaper, less unhealthy, option is a "cream tea", which in my experience is a pot of tea and one or two scones, usually with clotted cream and jam. I'm actually not a tea drinker, so I just get the scone(s), cream and jam and pretend I'm having tea. You find cream teas available all over, including in small museum cafes.

Have you found this other thread, running at the same time as yours? https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england-reviews/tea-in-london-without-breaking-the-bank

Nigel thank you very much for your insight. After much research I have learned more about afternoon tea.

I found a very helpful website afternoonteaonline.co.uk that provided the information I need. Anyone looking for afternoon tea locations will find this site very helpful. I found locations that appeal to me, check reviews on TripAdvisor and like magic found what I was looking for. Easy peasy. Just took a little time.

Yes I found the same question- tea in London without breaking the bank- and found it helpful. I didn’t find it though when I initially searched my question. So I posted my question. Thanks though for taking the time to direct me to it.

Thanks again everyone for your help.

hey lynne
lots of places to do afternoon tea. we did ours in bath at sally lunn's.
check out afternoonteaonline.co.uk has a list of cities and what places the venues are at, prices and times.
another fabulous thing i learned here and saved. check groupon.com scan down to bottom of page, groupon sites and click city. in search "afternoon tea" quite a bit and 2 for 1 deals
wowcher.co.uk is the UK version of groupon. sign up with an email, search "afternoon tea" and indulge what they have, lots of 2 for 1 specials, with descriptions. it gives you info how to redeem.
@emma thanks for this info. (fellow poster on forum from london)
b-bakery.com is the big red bus tour seeing sites in london.
have fun and enjoy
aloha

Have afternoon tea early afternoon and consider it lunch. You would get three finger sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted cream, and three puddings (small cakes, etc.) for each person.

Forgive my social ignorance as we don’t have anything like afternoon
tea here in the US.

Not true. In New York we certainly do.

I thought you called it "high" tea in the US (which is an evening meal in the UK). I blame Downton Abbey.:-)

harleydonski, we don't do any kind of "tea time" here in the US. So yes...most of us want to have that experience and most of us have no idea what we're doing. LOL

Thanks for the links Lynne!
Nigel, cream tea with scones, clotted cream and jam sounds perfect to me! I’m guess that is found more easily.

Some hotels in a lot of cities like NYC, Chicago, LA, etc., have afternoon tea.

Hotels, department stores like Bergdorf & British restaurants in New York like Tea & Sympathy. One of the nicest I've enjoyed was the Pembroke Room in the Lowell.

If you are already going to Kew Gardens, the Maids of Honour pastry shop across the street has wonderful scones as well as their eponymous pastry.

You can have tea on the House of Commons terrace as part of a guided tour at weekends and when Parliament isn't sitting. You have to book in advance, but the tea is excellent.

If you just want a light tea experience, I recommend the cream tea at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Their dining room is lovely. Since there is no table service, it would be easy for some members of the party to have cream tea while others have just a beverage (or a different kind of snack/light meal).

Fortnum and Masons is my favorite for a fancy tea! It's a special treat.
https://www.fortnumandmason.com/restaurants/afternoon-tea
Otherwise, I love a regular local tea room.

San Francisco has afternoon tea as well.

23f looking for recommendations for beachy solo travel!
I currently live in the Midwest. I’m looking to take a little solo 4-5 day vacation in a couple months. I’m dreaming of lots of beach time, and hopefully hiking/nature (though I am a relatively inexperienced hiker, so nothing too intense). Also looking to spend as little money as possible. I’ve been to Florida plenty of times and am not opposed to it, but would love to go somewhere new! Any suggestions?

I'd suggest making a new thread with this question rather than tagging it onto a thread about afternoon tea, you're likely to get more views that way.