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

[Coddy]

Somebody suggested this to me and I’ve never thought of it that way.

You don’t get very men going for afternoon tea do you? The Mark up on afternoon tea is absolutely enormous aside from staffing and cost of the building and stuff- it must be money for old rope for the businesses concerned. Specially the ones that charge over 50 quid ahead.

Are we being conned by the whole afternoon tea debacle?

(yes cake is nice I get that)

Oh my days, I love afternoon tea. It's a wee treat and I don't mind paying a bit extra. I've usually paid £20-£30 including a glass of prosecco. The only time it's been over £50 was at a posh hotel in Edinburgh, York or London. And you paid for the experience of going to that venue etc etc.

I think the same, total waste of money , especially when it over £25 pp. You can get a reasonable meal out for that, and probably enjoy it more instead of feeling sick after because you have your overdosed on sugar. I have done them a few times but really wouldn't bother again.

Why did you overdose on sugar? I went to claridges last month and didn’t feel sick after. Where did you go?

They wanted to know what love is

You need to go somewhere they're not so generous 😀

Omg dead 💀 @BlueThursday

I have done 2 at an award winning Hotel and one at a local coffee shop, and you have a least 5/6 pieces of cake and a scone with Jam and cream . Admittedly the cakes were small , so you try them all, but then I felt nauseous. I am an occasional cake person anyway. I admit if I had the opportunity to go to the Ritz or Claridges I doubt I would turn it down😂

I hate afternoon tea and would rather have a decent sandwich and a decent pot of tea in a mug not a china tea cup and saucer. We were bought a voucher for afternoon tea once, I took my husband, he ate all of his and all of my cakes and was hungry an hour later.

I’m not really a fan of afternoon tea because there’s always too much sweet stuff, but we did used to take my Dad every few months to a nice place that had jazz musicians on a Saturday afternoon. There were plenty of men there. Now there’s an Indian place which does a tea with mostly savoury food and that’s nice for a meet up. Always plenty of men there too.

I don't like all the cake. My idea of a good afternoon tea would be a huge plate of sandwiches and maybe some sausages. Then a nice selection of chocolate biscuits.

Give me a cream tea with scones, jam and clotted cream over an afternoon tea with dainty sandwiches and teeny tiny cakes any day. Having said that I wouldn't need my arm twisted too far back to clear a pedestal cake plate thing singlehanded/mouthed. If they're not too big they're not that fattening. Right?

I love afternoon tea. So do my adult children , two of whom are men. I would go every week if I could afford it.

I love afternoon tea. It’s what myself and my oldest friend do often. We’ve been all over to do it in the UK and a few places abroad. We spend quite a bit at times but have no regrets unless it’s shit. We had a shit afternoon tea in Portugal. The best have been Edinburgh and London.

Quite a few do unlimited savoury bits. You just order extra sandwiches when you've finished off the first set. Have done this at a few different places, the last place being Betty's in York. We took some of American friends there and we all definitely had more sandwiches and more teas than first given.

And bacon and sausage sandwiches instead of cucumber and cold chicken.

A couple of local places do a 'savoury' afternoon tea option, if you prefer that to a traditional one. Dd went for that one when she went with her grandparent. The scone was a savoury cheese one.From her description it was a little like a 3 tiered ploughman's lunch I reckon.

Another one has bacon sandwiches, pork pies, a scone and a big chunk of one cake rather than finger sandwiches and lots of mini cakes.

Butter on a scone! No thanks, I want the clotted cream and jam.

Wouldn't you just order a Double Double with extra liquor to eat in for that at a Pie & Mash Shop?

Skim read most of this thread, but I have a good friend who runs a coffee shop and HATES when people book afternoon tea. Profitable? Certainly. A huge fiddly pain in the ass to make? Absolutely! You're paying for the time and effort involved in the prep too..

I once went to Harrods for afternoon tea. (With a wowcher voucher)

It was fascinating. I felt so out of place and like I didn’t belong. You could tell every other table were millionaires. Arab couples with hundreds of Harrods bags surrounding their tables. Personal assistants and personal shoppers coming to check on them. Children out with their nannies dressed immaculate.

Was it a rip off? Yes. Even with the voucher.
Did I enjoy it? Yes.

If I was your friend I’d stop offering a service I hated to offer 🤷🏼‍♀️

Isn't the point that you and friend/s will be there chatting for a while, taking up a table? The more expensive places need to make sure people aren't hanging on to a solitary cold coffee and taking up dining space.

Yep and so is bottomless brunch.! I paid £36 to gi to a bottomless brunch that had a two hour limit, 3 courses of very mediocre food and 3 glasses of Prosecco.

Love afternoon tea and does H. Never paid anything like 50 quid for it.
Have you ever thought that you might have too much time on your hands

I just recently watched Mr Beard (competitive eater) put away a massive afternoon tea. It wasn’t a delicate tea though, it was a tea for blokes! Proper sandwiches and huge slabs of cake. 😁

No need for the sexism, it’s not based on fact anyway. Lots of men like expensive clothes. My uncle spends a fuckton on golf related stuff, and I know a man who has literally thousands of pounds worth of model trains. People have different interests and that’s ok :) and it has nothing to do with whether they’re male or female!