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)

Like I say, it's profitable.. I'm sure there's many industries that offer a service that, due to the effort involved, is less preferable to others they provide but to stay competitive in the marketplace they continue with it.

3 courses and several glasses of alcohol? Even if they were dubious quality £36 is a lot cheaper than having 3 courses in any high street restaurant (Bills/Cafe Rouge etc).

Went a couple of months ago.
It's dearer now - about £40 a head.
The sandwiches initially brought out was the equivalent of 2 slices of bread per person, cut as fine sandwiches. However, we were told when served that if we wanted any more of any, or all, of the sandwiches to just ask and they'd bring them. We did and had plenty more.

You then got 2 small scones and then 3 or 4 small cakes each too.

You could select tea or coffee, and could ask for more - and switch between different types of both too.

You had the table for an hour and a half but if they weren't busy and had no one needing your table you could stay longer. They serve the afternoon tea to tables quickly so you aren't wasting any of your time waiting for food.

Afternoon tea is a thing because it fills the gap between lunch and dinner traffic for the venue 🤷‍♀️

I imagine it varies a lot depending on where you are? I personally have had afternoon tea on counted special occasions with family and while it has not been cheap, nowhere near £50 pp (more like 26 if I remember well) and it has been good value for money because the amount of food has been insane, a mix of savory and sweet and also we have taken leftovers in a box. And I am talking of different venues each time but same area (not London or somewhere very expensive). Oh and we had to prebook and pay i advance so they can bet it all ready, prepare it in the tiered plates and all that. I think it is nice as an occasional treat and not aimed at women in particular.

One of my fav memories of when my girls were younger is taking them for tea at The Dorchester.
Yes it was expensive but they loved it.
We had our own waiter that told us that Brad and Angelina had stayed the previous week and they were agog.
The beauty of the place and the flowers etc was just amazing.
So yabu op. You aren't just paying for sandwiches are you?

I like doing my own as then I can serve more savoury and hot food with cold drinks and then serve cakes, scones and puddings with freshly made tea. You can always finish off with gin or cocktails, too. I find the ones you go out for twee, overpriced and disappointing. The ratio of savoury to sweet food is always off, some of the savoury food just tastes weird with hot tea, and the tea gets cold and stewed by the time you get to eating the sweet stuff you want to drink it with.

Which way round was it, the right way or the Devon way?

Is it true that in Devon it's cream then jam, the jam hiding the inferiority of Devon cream?

Iv done one super posh one with my best friend. So worth the money. It was a lively experience and they boxed up everything for you to take home. We had enough cake for a week

I feel like I just travelled back 150 years just reading the comments.
Had to check the calendar. Yep, 2024. Except for the pearl clutching ladies with pink hair dye on Mumsnet.

What's pink hair dye got to do with this thread?.

Goldenspraint

• I have just re-read your post, and at £25 total and from what you described, it sounds like you only ordered one afternoon tea. That's why is was 'only' £25, even a few years back, and there was only one scone, etc.

As I said, it's now almost £40 per person and you can ask for more savoury and drinks, which is included in the price.

Why are we clutching our pearls? Has a waiter slapped his cock where a cream éclair should be?

Actually no, it's far more labour intensive to make afternoon tea compared to many meals. The cost varies a lot of course, but so does the intricacies

That’s so the cream actually stays on the scone and doesn’t slide off the jam, you taste all of it when you eat it and I have never seen Devon cream anyway! Lol

By the way, I've always gone in mixed company, so is particularly partial

Stupid prices but highly supported by WOMEN.
Whose forcing them, they have brains to choose not to support this but yet they do?

Wow, you must have been to some really wild cafes. Give me the address, please.

Agree. And each time I have been for an afternoon tea, it has been (I feel) mainly cakes 🍰/sweet treats etc. Too many and not enough savoury selection..

That is sooo random!

I love afternoon tea and have paid €60 for a really nice one. Yes a lot of money for tea, sambos and cakes but me and my friends were there for almost 3 hours of lovely chatting and feeling fancy. One i went to had the cakes matched to the art on the walls (in a gallery) and that was especially nice.

wouldn't it be better?

What actually is a round of sandwiches? Is it the same as a round of toast? How many slices of toast make a “round”

It’s always confused me and I’m not sure if it’s a set portion or just how much the individual wants. Is a round of toast 2 slices for some but 3 or 4 for others? Why don’t people say slices?! Everyone knows what they want/are getting with a slice and another word wasn’t necessary.

I worked in a little tea shop when I was 14 as my first job. The staff were all girls and as I live in a very popular area for tourists we had to wear dresses with frilly aprons and a cap on our heads to look traditional for the tourists who would come in for “tea and buns” or “rounds of toast”
I live in a northern town where a bun is a bread roll with sandwich fillings in and on my first few shifts there was a lot of confusion when they were ordering a bun because I wasn’t sure if they wanted bacon, cheese, tuna etc… in it or if they wanted a cake.
At least it was cleared up easily by asking if they wanted a sweet bun or one with savoury filling, the rounds of toast were more confusing as everyone had a different idea of what constitutes a round.
I got sick of being told off for assuming someone was greedy for bringing two slices or looking confused and asking why I’d only brought one. You would think it’d be simple to just ask but it was treated as an offensive question and 9/10 the conversation went like this:

“Can I order a round of toast for two please?”
”of course, how many slices each?”
”Just bring us a round each!”
”Is that one slice each or two?”
”A ROUND!”

It’s been over 20 years and I’m still traumatised 😂. Whenever a round of toast is mentioned I find myself contemplating it for ages afterwards like a form of PTSD.

Maybe I’ll start my own thread and try to finally get some answers and closure.

I was going to take my Mum to Claridges for afternoon tea for her 80th, but decided to go for lunch instead as it was cheaper!

If you have such a problem with women then why are you even on mumsnet? A site intended for mums (women) and what does pink hair have anything to do with this thread? Never have I been to afternoon tea and saw anyone one there with pink hair.