Afternoon tea is a rip off largely aimed at ripping women off

You must be on a deliberate wind up, no one is this unpleasant, obnoxious and snooty, are they?

Ha yes you’d think it was law or something, like having to pay your taxes. I think an afternoon tea can be a great treat or present for someone, it’s just a question of whether the place you booked is giving you a good tea or not.

My niece works in the Shard. I think I would like to visit her. Especially now cake is available there!
I will stop at motorway services if necessary. Ireland has the particularly excellent Obama plaza. A destination service station.

@Bjorkdidit I had afternoon tea at the Shard this week and had a great time. My provincial backwater is Manhattan 😂.

Not quite sure what's wrong with knocking back some Tattinger and eating your own body weight in sandwiches and cake while admiring the view of London?

Why on earth would I need to stop at motorway services to use the loo?
I live near lots of very nice places. Stately homes etc. none of them take an hour to get to.
I go, use the loo there, then come home.
I’ve never had to drive on a motorway to get to any of the places I’m been.
I live very close to the places I book.
That’s not to say I wouldn’t try afternoon tea somewhere where I was visiting for the weekend and staying over.
This idea that everyone has to drive for miles to get to anywhere beautiful is silly. Some people have beautiful places on their doorstep.

😂😂😂

Got it in one

@BlueThursday

Try again champ.

This came into effect in 2009, but was a 2005 Act, so not only does it pre-date "Nutjob Nichola", it was a Labour Government Bill.

So much anger on this thread! Afternoon tea is not compulsory. Hope that reassures some of the people here 😏.

You are making yourself look a little silly. My friends and I met at university in London in the 90s and now are professional people living and working here. We do the occasional afternoon tea, as well as lunch, theatres, dinners etc. My family too. All these events have an appeal in different ways. Maybe you have not had a decent afternoon tea? I can recommend some?

The stuff about HRT, dresses and handbags make you seem a little bit out of touch and try-hard. Hope you can get less angry soon.

And this I've always assumed it was invented for those who can't afford a proper lunch is just a strange ignorant comment!

Anyway you posted for attention and I gave it to you! Snobbery is never a good look.

And we're tripping out of London at the end of the visit back to clean air and good friends 😊

I've never seen SITC either. I kept imagining it was another one of those USA series, with women who talk in annoying voices as if everything is a question, and watched by the kind of people who care about the attention seeking schemes of talentless trash, on the DM sidebar lol.

Also, every time I've been to London, I've been glad it was just to visit for a day, and am glad to get away by the end if the day.

Well, if you think about it, non Londoners probably can spend more money on delightful luxuries like afternoon tea, as our housing is less extortionately overpriced.

I enjoy a good bacon butty and a cuppa. I also enjoy tiny sandwiches, scones and cakes with a cuppa. And I like a curry. And pasta. And ice cream. And a roast dinner...beef, chicken, pork.

It's food. Served in one way or another. I can do all of them at home or out somewhere. Some times I feel like one thing, some times another. Perfectly allowed.

Sorry but acres??

Why would you assume people on HRT (thanks modern medicine), not from London can't afford a "proper" lunch?

I don't think deprived is the word: basic springs to mind. Do you recall the scrunchie scene in Sex and The City?

I'm not 'basic' enough to have ever watched that drivel.

And also acres? What an odd term to use!

So sophisticated 😅

I see acres of HRT-fuelled non Londoners - donning vile floral midi dresses (clutching high street bags), tripping out of Claridges or similar

"Donning" is a present participle meaning to put on an item of clothing. These women might be wearing "vile floral midi dresses" but I doubt they were "donning" them as they were tripping out of Claridges" [sic]

I know a good place that does it for £9.50

Do you struggle with apostrophes and plurals? That's your second error. It's Claridge's.

I know it's usually bad form to pick up on punctuation but if you're going to sneer the way you have done I think you're fair game.

If you're going to sneer at people less sophisticated than yourself you might possibly want to consider switching spell checker and grammar checker on before you post.

Just as dinner out can run from a Wetherspoons pie and chips to a Michelin starred restaurant, so can afternoon teas vary by quality and environment.

It's bizarre to think that they're any more a rip-off than any other meal out.

There is a lot of work, and often expensive materials in a good cake. I'd rather pay about £18 a head for a nice tea & one good individual piece of patisserie than have the whole shabang, a whole tea is unhealthy. No slices please, served in a nice place with comfy seats & proper china. The Connaught tea shop, for example, if you can get a seat, but they do takeaway. I guess adding a good view might be tricky and cost more. Anyone know of some other good places like this??

”Basic” I thought that I was on MN but I somehow seem to have stumbled onto Tumblr.

There’s nothing more tiresome than people like lookwhatyoudidthere, who think that they’re so much more interesting and Individual than everyone else.

It reminds me of seeing a bunch of emos all making bleating and baaing noises at everyone else in spite of the fact that they people they were making fun of, unlike the emos were dressed in a varied fashion and were going about different activities unlike the identically dressed twats who were all sitting on a wall while simultaneously making animal sounds.

As for “HRT riddled” heaven forbid that middle aged women should be seen in public let alone dare to have fun with their friends.

I can go and see our local school musical for a tenner. I can go and see a play in our local theatre for 40 euros.
Or If I was in London I could book a fabulous West End production. But I would be a tourist. At least I know not to bother with afternoon tea at fortnum and mason thanks to this thread!