How strict is the dress code for tea at the Ritz London?

I've seen both gentlemen are "requested" and "required" to wear a jacket and tie.

If I'm wearing a long sleeve dress shirt and dark slacks, but no suit and no tie, will I be turned away?

wear a sports coat - they have loaner ties.

but really - how much space does a tie take??

I really don't want to pack a sportscoat. Do they have loaner coats?

In my way of thinking - If one wants to do something posh like tea at the Ritz, one takes the appropriate clothing. If one wants to dress casually (which is perfectly fine/understandable) you choose a different venue.

There are a hundred other places you could have a nice afternoon tea where you could wear absolutely anything.

Just my 2¢ . . . . .

good said janisj, I just don't get these men not wanting to wear a jacket. What is the big deal with a jacket, my DH wears the same thing everyday, polo khakis and long sleeve shirts, I like seeing a change, don't most women and men want a bit of a change to go along with having something so different as tea at the Ritz....the second time this week I have said, just put on the jacket.....

They will lend you a tie (with a polite but definite sneer as you are now the equivalent of pond-life in their eyes - someone too stupid or too arrogant to follow the clear rules) but I'm not sure if they have loaner jackets. I doubt it very much. REad 'requested to' as polite Brit speak for 'ordered to'.

I saw a couple stopped there as the man wasn't wearing a tie and it was an embarrassing experience for them. They were taken aside(not at all discretely), and then he was given a tie and sent to a changing room (not allowed to put it on right there). The woman looked like she wanted to kill the man!

If you don't want to follow the dress code, go somewhere else, why do you think the rules apply to everyone else but you?

I actually saw a couple stopped from enetering the hotel itself because they were dressed in jeans and wanting to go to the bar!

Just for fun...visit a used clothes shop...there are many...buy a coat/jacket! It will probably cost less than the tea...Don't pack the sports coat...wear it.

As said, an Oxfam shop will sell you a jacket for about £5 and a tie for a quid.

I've been refused entry for wearing trainers - so they are a bit strict.

If you are the sort of person who does not want to bring a jacket with you on your holiday (as I am) then you are the sort of person for whom the Ritz is not suitable.

There are plenty of venues suitable for informal people like us.

True - you pays your money you takes your choice. There are lots of other lovely places for tea but if you want the Ritz, you have to play by their rules.

I guess I'm bringing a sportscoat then

Londonlover, you can wear a blazer onto the plane and take it off if you are to warm during the flight . A tie takes up absolutly no room in your suitcase. You can also use the blazer with casual pants and a casual shirt if and when it gets a bit chilly while you are on your trip. Best regards.

I would consider it a waste of space to pack a bulky item of clothing like a sports jacket just to wear once for 2 hours. Unless of course you are attending a wedding.
I think buying one at Oxfam is a great idea. Only a few pounds and you can decide to keep it or redonate it afterwards.

"If you are the sort of person who does not want to bring a jacket with you on your holiday (as I am) then you are the sort of person for whom the Ritz is not suitable."

Dangerously close to utter cobblers.

The Ritz is, by no stretch of anyone's imagination, posh.

It's a theme park for plebs who want to con themselves they're recreating a scene from a Merchant Ivory film. It's also home to some of our most grotesque exiled kleptocrats, Russian billionaires (if there's a difference between the two categories) and general lowlifes. Sort of place (and dress code) Mohammed al Fayed feels at home with.

Last time I got bullied into having tea there, they did in fact lend me a jacket - of such spectacular tackiness, Oxfam probably rejected it. Buy one from Oxfam - for about a tenth the cost of the tea - and you'll have done at least some good that day to make up for patronising the place

flanneruk wrote: "Dangerously close to utter cobblers.
The Ritz is, by no stretch of anyone's imagination, posh."

I don't disagree with your assessment of the Ritz and the people that might be found there, but that does not mean that what I said was any kind of close to cobblers.

Poshness does not impress me, and interests me only as a phenomenon.

The main difference between the unsavoury characters with new money and those who enjoy old money is simply a matter of when the dirty deeds were done that enriched people, and whether those now spending the money are those who arranged matters to enrich themselves or the descendants of such people.

When I was in London recently I had clothing with me that would have passed muster in the Ritz. It never crossed my mind to go there. Not my kind of thing. The word "authentic" springs to mind.

Londonlover: Maybe an explanation of Oxfam would help a bit. They are charity shops that are all over and they sell donated items - sort of like a thrift shop. The idea of buying a jacket/tie at Oxfam is a great suggestion. It would only cost a few £ - probably less than dry cleaning your own Sports coat before/after your trip. There are shops in Covent Garden, in Goodge St, a couple near Victoria, just all over.

Then you can bring it back home - or donate it or give it away or anything.

Hi L,

>If I'm wearing a long sleeve dress shirt and dark slacks, but no suit and no tie, will I be turned away?<

Probably not, but I will make rude remarks about how the Ritz is letting all sorts of trash in if I see you there.

A sports jacket takes up no room in your luggage.

Is Oxfam open on Sunday? I will be arriving Sunday morning, and the tea will be the following day.