Hi all: Will be in London soon and looking for a non-hotel afternoon tea experience. (Complete with sandwiches, scones etc can even be a la carte) Hoping to find something pretty and relaxing. Maybe it DOES have to be in a hotel?? Also: Are there places in London that offer tea leaf readings? Thanks for any help.

We enjoy Richoux. It is a chain, and the ones I know of are located across the street from Harrods, on Picadilly near Fortnum & Mason, and on South Audley not far off Oxford Street. You can Google it for their menu and locations.

Thanks. Will google Richoux. Sounds good and seems to be in good locations.

Many of the hotel settings are on the posh side and are pretty expensive. Very "worth it" IMO for a special ocassion but not just for afternoon tea.

If you don't want to spend £25-£35 pp (or more if you include a glass of champagne), then Richoux, the Orangery in Kensington Gardens, Fortnum & Mason, or some of the restaurants in Harrods all offer nice afternoon teas.

I couldn't find the threads in a search but there was a long one here for tea that included alternatives Richoux (find their website, it appeared to have a wide variety of offerings and not just tea service) and Selfridge's department store on Oxford Street(lower ground level near their book department).

I've had it at Fortnum and Mason and thought it was lovely.

We did tea at Harrods and Harvey Nichols. Both were ok. Nothing really fancy, but ok. The rest of the stores were fun to walk through.

Yes...there was a very long thread on this earlier in the year with some definite opinions about afternoon tea! Personally, whenever I go to London, we always have tea at Harrods. I don't remember the exact room, but it's a lovely setting and the price is reasonable. We also would go in the late afternoon and that ended up being our dinner.

re tea at Harrod's not being &quot;fancy&quot; - It <u>entirely</u> depends on which of the many restaurants you go to. There are more than 25 different cafes/restaurants inside Harrods -- some quite casual, some quite fancy.

The lovely thing about the Orangery is the setting.

We really enjoyed afternoon tea at Claridges http://www.claridges.co.uk/Restauran...tea-claridges/

If you go to Harrods, go to the Georgian Restaurant which is where I have tea every year. Complete with sandwiches, scones, etc. &amp; a pianist. &pound; 19.95

DON&quot;T go to the Orangerie. I read some poor reviews, but went anyway. Please let me save you. Service that was desultory if not sullen, dry bread sandwiches, one microwaved scone. There's a reason it's cheaper than the hotels, but does it have to be that bad?

Sorry you had a bad experience at the Orangery. I've been going there for years and was just there a few weeks ago. Have never had a problem, but them I don't do Afternoon Tea.

I agree with the comments about the Orangery. Yes, the setting is nice but the food was disappointing and it is not presented as afternoon tea usually is--no tiered tray.I don't think we had any pastries either. It is also noisy there. The Georgian Room at Harrod's is not especially fancy but the food was fine. It is not served on proper china--just some white stoneware. The Lanesborough serves on Wedgwood china--very pretty.

A place I dsicovered by mistake in January which does lvoely teas is the Wallace Collection in Manchester Square in Marylebone.

The house hada courtyard which has had a glass roof put on and that's where the restaurant is.

You can have it in the National Portrait Gallery, with its lovely views of London:

http://www.npg.org.uk/live/portafternoontea.asp

Sandy