The Best Afternoon Tea In London, For Every Budget

[Celerity]

We’ve ventured into London’s most distinguished hotels, grand cafés and secluded courtyards on an unquenchable quest to find the city’s most noteworthy Afternoon Teas. And after several sleepless nights – primarily due to excessive caffeine intake and the sugar shakes – we’ve crafted this fully comprehensive guide (which we’ve also organised by budget, and whether they offer gluten free and / or vegan options).

Rest assured, when it comes to tea…

….these places have got it in the bag.

https://thenudge.com/features/the-best-afternoon-tea-in-london/

£ (The Least Expensive)

No. 16 | South Kensington



Number 16 (a jewel box of a hotel in South Kensington) has an unbelievably beautiful orangery and garden. And frankly, it would be a crime if they weren’t offering tea here. Thankfully, they do, and it involves pitch-perfect sandwiches; a choice of patisseries; and the option to go for hot chocolate instead of tea.

Details: Served Friday-Sunday, 1-4pm | £35pp | +£13 for a glass of Champagne | Book here


Dalloway Terrace | Bloomsbury



Dalloway Terrace promises to shower you with salmon and creme fraîche sandwiches on cocoa bread; Tahitian vanilla scones; Campari-poached rhubarb tart; and approximately half a meadow’s-worth of flowers overhead.

Details: Served daily 1-4pm | £35pp | +£18-28 for a glass of Champagne | Vegetarian and gluten-free menu available with 24h notice | Book here


Biscuiteers | Notting Hill & Belgravia



Biscuiteers are known for their incredibly detailed, hand-iced biscuits – but now they’re about to be known for their yuzu & lemon meringue tarts; ruby chocolate macarons and hazelnut choux buns, too…

Details: Served daily, 11am-4pm | £35pp | +£6 for a glass of prosecco | Vegan and gluten-free options available | Book here


The Zetter Townhouse | Marylebone & Clerkenwell



Packed with Chesterfield sofas, a roaring fire and a clutch of eccentric Victorian trinkets from candlesticks to stuffed animals; The Zetter Townhouses look like afternoon tea could have been invented there. There’s two menus to pick from; Aunt Wilhelmina’s or Uncle Seymour’s – the former a traditional tea, and the latter a punchy platter of pasties, scotch eggs and sausage & haggis rolls.

Marylebone | Served Wed-Sun, 12-4pm | £39.50pp | +£10 for bubbles or a tea-infused cocktail | Book here

Clerkenwell | Served weekends 12-4.30pm | £39.50pp | +£10 for bubbles or a tea-infused cocktail | Book here

snip


26 more at the top link

[Farmer-Rick]

1. Many thanks for this info

My daughter and I are planning a long vacation trip to England when COVID is done. A long afternoon tea is definitely on the list. As well as staying in a castle and driving a narrowboat.

[viva la]

2. This isn't London-- but I had an amazing afternoon tea in Lacock

Near Stonehenge. Some of the Harry Potter scenes were filmed in the abbey here, and a few thousand BBC dramas used the village as a setting.
This restaurant has a wonderful garden. It's closed right now for covid, but should be open by summer.

[Sanity Claws]

3. Thanks for this addition

I have an affinity to Stonehenge and hope to visit there and nearby Wales in the next couple of years.

[Farmer-Rick]

4. Thanks for the link

We have to add Stonehenge and an extra afternoon tea is always good.

[viva la]

7. The Lacock Abbey is a National Trust site, so if you have an NT card you can get in free-

And there's a little museum dedicated to William Henry Fox, a very early photography pioneer. (He invented the negative.) He owned the Abbey at some point.

Stonehenge is quite close, maybe 25 miles.

Also, if you like stone circles, the one at Avebury (which encircles an entire village) is less dramatic, but impressive because it's so huge. That's about 15 miles from Lacock.

If you don't have a car, there are some good bus tours that take you to all three of these in a day trip, and they usually start in Salisbury, which has a beautiful cathedral.

You can tell I love love love Wiltshire and Somerset.

[viva la]

8. I would love a narrowboat!

I'd love to travel down from Oxford to near London on the Thames.

[jmbar2]

5. Does afternoon tea replace lunch or dinner?

If it were in addition to three meals a day, I'd be packing on some weight!

[Celerity]

6. no, it was to fill the gap between an early lunch and a late dinner

now it is more of a 'treat'