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)

We had a gorgeous Italian afternoon tea at Pesto , leisurely catch up with friends and it was a lovely treat .

Oh come on, stop this nonsense.
this is a discussion on Mumsnet!

Why the aggression, this is a discussion on Mumsnet and I am discussing it?

My sister and I took DM out for afternoon tea last week. DM loves a cake but DSis and I can take it or leave it. The place we went to did a savoury afternoon tea, now that was banging! 😀

Afternoon tea at Fortnum is pretty good. And not just for ladies. The last time I had it we were three couples - and soon after one couple split: she went to live with another woman.

I was indeed @ShadesofPoachedSmoke A lovey place to go for a treat and the service was absolutely fabulous!!

Totally agree with you, it is a treat and one I definitely enjoy.

The price overall not that bad ,(compared to the price of say takeaway fish and chips) depending on where you go .

Love an afternoon tea, been to loads of different venues, me and a male friend try to outdo each other on our birthdays, done the pottery tour followed by afternoon tea, done all the local garden centres and had afternoon tea on a barge, quite a few hotels, my favourite was a beautiful old hotel near by, that you can just keep eating what you dont eat they box up for you to take home, all included in the price

I don't drink, and can't bear the idea of spending £7+ on a "decent" pint as many of my friends do. Or £10+ on a cocktail, as nice as some of those do sound.

If you factor in how much a "few bevvies" on a Saturday night out must cost, a "nice" afternoon tea somewhere isn't that much of a rip off, if that's what is preferred.

No judgement either way. Eat cake. Drink beer. Long as you're happy.

We have a lovely place near us that offers a gents and a ladies afternoon tea. The gents contains mini quiches/pasties/cheese scone and less cake. Might have even had cheese. I went with mum and we ordered one of each. It was amazing. The regular one usually gives me a sugar headache and I much prefer a cheese scone to a sweet scone. But endless tea I can’t pass by! I’m a tea addict. I love an afternoon tea but it’s usually a special treat not a regular thing. And places here you can go to on a variety of price points.

Not sure where you're going to think it costs £4/head! Those little cakes would sell for a couple quid at least any a bakery. Scones another £4/each with the jam and cream. £5-7 for the sandwiches. Then there's the ambiance, the waitstaff etc etc. I agree some charge ALOT but I'm not giving it up!

I have never went for one . I refuse to pay £50 for £5 worth of food lol

I get confused why some men want to spend so much money drinking pint after pint of lager in the pub. Sometimes watching over hyped, millionaires kick a ball around a field, who are too busy helping their orange girlfriends use them for a talentless celeb career, than winning anything for the national team.
They're just Ping their money up a wall, and at least there isn't so much tax on an afternoon tea to help the Tory expenses funds.

Lol I love the idea of a girls get together in a greasy spoon, great idea 🤣 The best afternoon tea I ever had was about 15 a head in a place near Wolverhampton, its about 6 or so years since I went and only time I drank tea, it was awesome and fact that they gave you honey glazed mini sausages to start was even better.
I do get your point though op some places are extortionate for a few little sarnies I do want to go to Betty's tea room in Harrogate though but that's 30 ( well 29.95)
It does seem to be mainly women that do afternoon tea but it always seemed to be thinking of Edwardian or victorian.times

I took my daughter and my little granddaughters for afternoon tea at a local hotel with a lovely tea room, for DD's birthday. They did a classic afternoon tea, a warm savouries one and a kiddies one (presented just as beautifully as the adults one). The staff were lovely, the littlies beautifully behaved and amazed by their tiered plates, and before we knew it we'd been there chatting and enjoying the setting and the food for two hours! I think because it was such a calm and gentle environment you can really get to talk properly and relax. Nothing like a pub lunch or a restaurant with their busy atmospheres

The teas were £20 and £25, the kids ones £8. Seriously, where can you eat in posh surroundings for £20 that's better value?

https://teaatannas.co.uk/menu/

What about this. £110 each which includes champagne, and also a fast track to view from floor 72. It's usually £28 just to see The View from The Shard. I'd pay it for the experience.
https://www.virginexperiencedays.co.uk/product/view-shard-champagne-afternoon-tea-two-ting-shangri-la

Indeed I have had a couple of afternoon teas for around the same price in the North West
I really enjoyed them very tasty and nicely laid out
I'm 50 now so perhaps of an age where they are a treat🤣

I hate it, don't like sandwiches or cake, but my DH loves it. It is a total rip off.

Teapots full of gin ... mmm.

100%

I'm not teetotal either, but I don't get the love for adding prosecco to afternoon tea. Give me a freshly made pot of tea any day of the week.

Someone mentioned The Dome. Afternoon tea there is £32. Every time I've been there I've never needed another meal that day. Total for 2 £64.

It made me think about comparing this with other places that sell sandwiches, tea and cake. To get the same quantity of food you'd need 2 Pret a Manger standard salmon or crayfish or egg sandwich per person. They're around £5 each to sit in so 4x £5 - £20. There's no equivalent of the savoury so throw in another sandwich that's £25.

Pret doesn't do scones but their pastel de natas are about the size of a scone. They're around £3.50 sit in and as you usually get a sweet and savoury scone you'd need 4 of them so £14.

To get the cake element you'd need say 4 of their wrapped in plastic cake slices to cut up and share They're around £3 or so so £12.

Then a tea say £3/4 for a tea bag dunked in a mug. Another £6. And no free refills.

Total for 2 to collect yourself and sit at Formica table £57.

I know plenty of men who go for afternoon tea

Bugger me, is Cod still here/back? Stirry old fish. Anyway, this thread has made me do a sexy nose snort (actually not that sexy, I snotted a bit) in manner of naughty lady enjoying a cheeky Prosecco alongside an overpriced raspberry macaron and a minute egg and cress finger sandwich.

Where I used to work it is £30 a head. They would have to get an extra chef in to do all the cakes, mini cheesecakes, sausage rolls, sandwiches (mainly salmon, egg and onion and sweet chilli chicken) and other stuff that we would never normally sell.

Then there would also be an extra waitress. To serve the teas and mini cups of soup and It did require a bit of setting up as well. I found it was mainly older people just wanting an afternoon out or American tourists.

I work in a very busy M&S cafe. We do afternoon tea for £10 a head, it’s great value and really popular with all age groups but I don’t recall ever serving it to any men.
We often get Mums with pre-teen daughters getting afternoon tea as a treat for special occasions and celebrations and it’s lovely to see 🥰

You could say going to a pub for a pint is a rip off.
You can buy the same beer and drink it in your own home for a fraction of the cost.
You can even replicate the environment by throwing the beer on your carpet, smearing food into your chair, and turning your tv up to ear blasting volume playing football adverts.
There you go, job done.
So why aren’t we criticising men who do this?
Why is it ok to sneer at what women (what this thread is about) do but not men?
I cannot stand going to places like the above and more and more pubs seam to be unable to function without tvs on every wall. Not for me. I’ll stick to afternoon tea or nice cafes and pubs without tvs.