Oh! And I should add that I’m also interested in hearing of anything of this kind in Glasgow, not just London.
There are some people in the UK who will insist to you that it is only the American tourist trade that keeps the “posh” afternoon tea alive – although I think you can see from this thread, that is really not the case. A great many natives enjoy a “proper” afternoon tea occasionally, and I doubt any of the joy of it is the high price tag. But loads of Americans would not dream of visiting London without doing “afternoon tea” at least once.
I recall that the afternoon tea that I had at the Goring ended up serving as my evening meal. I was too full to eat afterwards in the evening. And although one doesn’t need to go to a high-priced afternoon tea to experience fine quality tea itself in London, one thing that many Americans probably have never experienced is how delicious and even fascinating quality tea can be. Even though I already knew there was more to tea than Lipton’s and chamomile, etc, sampling some unique Chinese and Indian teas in London was a real revelation. So while the rituals of “afternoon tea” are lost on me, I have learned to be on the lookout for a great tea list when visiting London. I’d like to try more.
Meant to write an update for this–we took my mother-in-law to the Mandeville Hotel for afternoon tea a few weeks back. We really liked it, although I wasn’t in love with the space (it was the clubby dining room of the hotel bar; we were the only tea-havers, everyone else was eating brunch).
Sandwiches were good; nothing seemed pre-prepared. Great selection of tiny sweet treats. Good scone. My husband got the “gentlemen’s tea” instead of the standard tea; his came with three bite-size savories instead of sandwiches (a beef and snail thing, a small piece of battered fried fish, and a small meat pie).
It’s too bad they put you in the same space as the hotel bar. I remember passing that
when I had tea at the Mandeville a few years ago. There were very few of us having tea,
but we were seated at a lovely small room next to the bar area, and it was very cosy.
I suspect those “some people” will all be in London. Few American tourists seem to venture out of the capital so their impact on the survival of afternoon tea is minimal on the rest of the country, where most of us live.
How about Manchester? the football tourists.
Football menus from both sides of Pond:
As a percentage of the total numbers of American visitors to the UK, I’d regard them as being in the “few” that I mentioned.
It’s similar to the reverse trip with most Britons visiting America going to either Florida or New York City. I can visit for three weeks and never hear another British accent - but I’d similarly regard myself amongst the “few”.
Any Yanks visiting either Old Trafford or the Eithad and in need of afternoon tea will find it at the Town Hall, as I mentioned upthread. High end options include Manchester House, The Lowry, Great John Street Hotel, Radisson, Harvey Nicholls, Cloud 23 (for the best views of the city) and The Midland. Very chintzy would be the Richmond Tea Rooms, in the gay village.
