London Ballet Shoes afternoon tea

[Toospotty]

DD’s Christmas present is going to be a Ballet Shoes weekend. We’re going to see the play and go to the V&A. I’d also like to take her for an afternoon tea but sadly no Lyons Corner House! Can anyone recommend anything that might meet the vibe? I don’t want to spend a fortune on the really pricey ones really but it’s a treat for her.

Covent Garden?

Is she prepared for it being pretty different from the book? Madame Fidolia is being played by a bloke who’s also playing GUM - I’m not certain whether he’s pretending to be a woman for her or they’ve actually turned Fidolia into a male character.

She’ll roll with the punches on the play!

Sorry, somehow I missed this. Covent Garden would be a great location as we'll probably go and look at the Royal Ballet School but recommendations for specific places very welcome. There are so many choices out there.

I like tea and cakes at the V & A itself. The rooms are so beautiful, it feels special. Not a formal afternoon tea if that's what you're after, but a lovely experience.

Tea on an old fashioned routemaster bus? https://b-bakery.com/london/bus-tours

I did this a few years ago with DS and it’s done well, a good tea and something different. Might also fit with the vintage aspect of Ballet Shoes (I loved that book!)

Oh, I like the bus! I'll look into it.

Tea at V&A is definitely worth considering as I love their cakes. But I was thinking of this replacing a meal so may not be enough.

How old is she and does she do ballet?

Royal Ballet School: nothing to see unless you've arranged an appointment for something.

Royal Opera House: you don't get many ballet vibes but it's worth a visit for a nose around. It's open during the day to the public - the Floral Hall is impressive, with it's floating balcony high up in the mirrored wall. You can go up to the terrace overlooking Covent Garden Piazza. The windows look into the costume department and you can have a surreptitious look inside - there are signs up asking you not to be obvious and disturb the staff. Inside in the upper bar there are usually items on display although I don't know if they're always ballet-related. On the ground floor there are a couple of display cases - at the moment they feature costumes from La Boheme but that might change by the time you visit. Cinderella will be the ballet performed over Christmas, so perhaps they'll feature that. There are some lovely little theatre set displays permanently set into the wall towards the original main entrance. And of course the shop! They do behind the scenes tours and this year one of the tours is about the production of Cinderella; tickets are £45 - ouch!

www.rbo.org.uk/tickets-and-events/the-making-of-tour-details

Freed of London shop on St Martin's Lane: very cute, even if you just look in at the windows.

Afternoon tea: do you want a 'proper' afternoon tea (with high price tag) or a more normal place with choose-your-own sandwiches/cakes/drinks? For the latter somewhere like Patisserie Valerie would have suited but I don't know if all branches have shut now. Caffe Concerto is similar, although I've only had a meal, not cakes. There are two branches in the Covent Garden area:
https://www.caffeconcerto.co.uk/locations

As a PP said, the cafe rooms at the V&A are exquisite, although can be very busy.

Hi.

Thanks for the post - I appreciate the effort. I was actually only planning to walk past to look at the bridge! My daughter loves the book but doesn't do ballet herself. I don't think we'd get our money's worth from £45! I'm looking to capture the overall vibe of the era as much as anything else - we're staying near Gloucester Road although I think the modern Cromwell Road won't really give us the period feel. It's a shame the Theatre Museum has closed as that's more her interest area, but we can see the galleries at the V&A.

It's a full afternoon tea we're looking for. Caffe Concerto isn't really the sort of thing - I'd go there for a pit stop rather than a sit down and relax event. I like the V&A tea room (lived in London almost all my life and it's one of my favourite places) but again not really the full experience. There are a bewildering number of possible options so keen to know what might work best for us with the vibe I'm trying to hit.