I'd like to find a great place for tea not far from the British Museum (no more than maybe 10 or 15 minutes by foot or tube). Looking for a very "British" experience, and can pay up to 20 pounds a person (although that sounds quite high), but cannot afford the Ritz (36 pounds per person). Any suggestions?

You're not really in "high tea" territory there. The Russell Hotel in Bloomsbury might do something.

The picadilly line will quickly take you to Mayfair which IS high tea territory.

"High tea"???????

What the questioner wants is afternoon tea, unless the hotels and restaurants have caved in to American pressure.

Take the tube to Harrods & go to the Georgian Room. Beautiful setting with tea going for 19.95 GBP. Great service, crisp linens & very good sandwiches, pastries & scones.

Oh, and it's the Piccadilly line to the Knightsbridge stop.

When did they start eating high tea down south, where Spurs fans live?

Or does Audere think the British Museum is somewhere up north?

Harro'ds or several others would be good choices. Buit I recommend something just a bit nearer to the museum. The Court Restaurant at the top of the Great Court in the museum itself does a very good afternoon tea.

I was going to say the same as janisj; the restaurant in the museum does a nice tea, but it's not a traditional setting.

Yes - should have qualified that. They do a lovely traditional afternoon tea, but in the dramatic, modern setting of the Great Court. Not at all traditional or "olde worlde".

There is a Richoux tea shop on South Audley Street off Oxford Street near Selfridge's. You can ride a bus down Oxford. Afternoon tea is £16.50, or £29.95 for two. You get three kinds of sandwiches, scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam, a slice of dark fruitcake, and your choice of a pastry from their wonderful assortment on view in a big glass case, plus a pot of tea.

Can you tell I like them?

You could also try the Orangerie (sp?) in/near the gardens of Kensington Palace. It is a beautiful setting.

When did they start eating high tea down south, where Spurs fans live?

Or does Audere think the British Museum is somewhere up north?>>>>>>

We don't eat high tea, keep coal in the bath and we let kestrels live down south.

I can't think of anywhere near the British Museum that does "tea" with all the bumflufferies.

Well it's a bit of a walk, but I rather think the Waldorf does. Or is that just a tea dance?

BTW, I've been a Londoner all my life and high teas were a regular feature of the weekends of my childhood, tinned salmon, fat ham, celery sticks, lurid jellies, aunts making pointed remarks, and all that sort of thing. Victoria Wood must have been eavesdropping on my family.

The only times I've ever had "tea" has been as a treat with my aunts (who make Bertie Wooster's Aunt Agatha look like Mother Theresa)

Ah, I wondered how you became a Spurs supporter.