The best London hotels for afternoon tea: Where to find the city’s best sweet treats this Mother’s Day

This Mother’s Day, what better way to celebrate the motherly figure in your life than an afternoon tea? Think neatly filled finger sandwiches, buttery scones fresh out of the oven and masterfully piped pastries delicately placed on tiered stands, accompanied by fruity loose leaf infusions.

This sophisticated social tradition is credited to Anna Russell, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, who in 1840 proposed snacking on small sweet and savoury treats to bridge the gap between luncheon and supper.

When celebrating Mother’s Day, not any three-tiered platter will do. Enter London’s hotels, which have been providing the country with top-quality afternoon teas the Duchess would certainly approve of.

Planning a visit to England’s capital? Don your glad rags for a taste of tradition with tiers of finger sandwiches, pastries and brilliant brews. Or seek out those hotels that have taken a modern twist on this classic teatime custom, from Asian fusion flavours to small plates replacing sandwiches.

From high tea heavyweight The Ritz to The Shard’s city panoramas and the regal offerings of Park Lane, there’s something for everyone to relish in style.

Here are the best London drawing rooms to indulge in stacks of sweet and savoury treats with trusty teapots or flutes of champagne to sip on the side – it’s always five o’clock somewhere after all.

1. Bridgerton Afternoon Tea at The Lanesborough

Best for: Dressing up as debutantes

Calling all Bridgerton fans this Mother’s Day. The Lanesborough has launched a luxury afternoon tea this season, a spring social event Lady Whistledown would certainly take note of. Take your tea like Regency era high society with the Bridgerton Blend, a rich and floral black tea or try out the hotel’s other signature flavours. For savoury, sample finger sandwiches filled with Westcombe cheddar and spring onion or Scottish smoked salmon and crème fraîche. Meanwhile, pastries inspired by the hit Netflix series include “The Lady in Silver” and “Benedict’s Masquerade”.

Bridgerton Afternoon Tea at The Lanesborough costs from £92pp.

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2. Dalloway Terrace at The Bloomsbury

Best for: Floral lovers

Escape from the London bustle and head up to The Bloomsbury’s beautifully decorated rooftop, filled with a cascade of blooming flower decorations in time for spring. Up on Dalloway Terrace, expect a nature-led afternoon tea with smoked salmon pinwheels and harissa chicken mayonnaise sandwiches, before tucking into passion fruit tarts and orange blossom madeleines. If you have room for scones, end the outing with a vanilla and sultana buttermilk variety, freshly baked and served with clotted cream and rhubarb and Campari jam. For tea, there is a range of infusions on offer from German company Ronnefeldt tea.

Dalloway Terrace Afternoon Tea at The Bloomsbury costs from £55pp.

3. Millie’s Lounge at The Ned

Best for: Baking enthusiasts

Take your seat at the Millie’s Lounge section of The Ned hotel’s Grand Banking Hall for a classic afternoon tea menu featuring top-rated patisseries made by the winners of Bake Off: The Professionals 2025, Darian Schmidt and Yadira Jauffrineau. Expect Japanese lychee roulade with white chocolate, passionfruit delice and chocolate Petit Antoine. Before something sweet, dig into coronation chicken and ham and cheddar sandwiches. There are 12 teas to choose from, including The Ned’s English Breakfast, or if you need something special to celebrate Mother’s Day with, upgrade your afternoon tea with a glass of champagne.

Afternoon Tea at Millie’s Lounge costs from £60pp.

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4. Lily Vanilli at Four Seasons Tower Bridge

Best for: An untraditional tea

Four Seasons Tower Bridge has partnered with East London bakery Lily Vanilli to provide a modern twist on afternoon tea. Forget finger sandwiches with traditional flavours, this tea will serve Spanish olives, béchamel gougères and savoury scones with three types of cheese, pickles and dill. The sweet course will consist of creme brulee flavoured Basque cheesecake, tiramisu tarts and Lily Vanilli scones. Tea is paired back with the classic flavourings, but you can upgrade to an aperi-tea experience with a cocktail pairing for £90 per person.

Lilly Vanilli at Four Seasons Tower Bridge costs from £55pp.

5. Afternoon Tea at Claridge’s

Best for: Timeless classics

Retire to Claridge’s Foyer and Reading Room to satisfy your afternoon cravings with this teatime menu. The luxury London hotel has been serving afternoon tea for over 150 years and remains faithful to the classic combination of finger sandwiches, scones and sweet pastries, accompanied by loose-leaf tea. Plates will arrive with sandwiches filled with cucumber with lemon crème fraîche and Devon chicken with tarragon mayonnaise, while pastries created by executive pastry chef Thibault Hauchard include Claridge’s milk chocolate and banana choux and Pecan Saint Honoré.

Afternoon Tea at Claridge’s costs from £95pp.

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6. London Calling Afternoon Tea at Haymarket Hotel

Best for: London landmarks

For a taste of London’s most iconic landmarks, head to British brasserie Brumus at Haymarket Hotel. This very English affair plates pastries and savouries alongside sweet standouts – a dark chocolate orange version of Elizabeth Tower (home to Big Ben), a cinnamon London Eye sablé, and Victoria sponge of Trafalgar Square. Pair the landmarks with the only beverage suited to celebrate quintessential Britishness: a selection of tea, including breakfast, Earl Grey and herbal varieties. For something stronger, a glass of champagne can be ordered for £19.25.

London Calling afternoon tea at Haymarket Hotel from £50pp.

7. Afternoon Tea at Pan Pacific

Best for: Seasonal flavours

Backdropped by botanicals in the Maxwell Room, Pan Pacific’s afternoon tea offering features an amuse-bouche sausage roll, smoked gravlax salmon finger sandwiches, golden raisin scones and sweet treats from tarts to orange and pecan roulade. A selection of botanical tea infusions fills the floral fine china; meanwhile, children are offered a toned-down tea with cake pops and strawberry iced tea for £29.

Afternoon Tea at Pan Pacific London costs £58pp.

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8. Afternoon Tea at Hotel Café Royal

Best for: Elegance

For a timeless afternoon tea in the lounge once favoured by Oscar Wilde, pastry chef Maxence Blondelle puts on a decadent display of sandwiches, scones and desserts in the Hotel Café Royal’s Grade II-listed Grill Room. Over 20 blends of white, green, black, tisane and oolong tea flow into fine china as egg and truffle, beef pastrami and curried chicken savouries are brought out for sampling. Delicate sweet treats are what Blondelle does best, with apple and hibiscus tatins, quince and rose cakes and milk chocolate and passion fruit tartlets rivalling in elegance even the gold leaf details and intricate ceilings of the surrounding room.

Traditional Afternoon Tea at Hotel Café Royal costs £85pp.

9. The Drawing Room at Brown’s Hotel

Best for: Plant-based

It may be London’s oldest hotel, but if you’re looking for vegan treats at tea time, then Brown’s has caught up with the times. Aside from traditional flavours such as smoked salmon and lemon labneh on a malted loaf, and cucumber and goat cheese on white, Queen Victoria’s favourite haunt also offers a plant-based menu with coronation vegetables, coconut slices and madeleines stacked onto the tiers. This is the quintessential English experience with original wood panelling, Jacobean ceilings and roaring fires warming the cockles as you sip your brew.

Plant-based Afternoon Tea at Brown’s Hotel costs £80pp.

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10. Science Afternoon Tea at The Ampersand

Best for: Families

The Ampersand has shaken things up with a children's science afternoon tea that blasts off on a red rocket stand – mini hot dogs, dinosaur jam sandwiches, blackcurrant planets and chocolate lollipops in tow. If you are doing Mother’s Day with smaller children, this may be the ideal tea party for your clan. You can forget boring cups of tea, it’s ‘spaceman’ hot chocolate with all the trimmings on this quirky outing. Inspired by the nearby Science Museum, the tea comes complete with test tube toppings and a milk chocolate fossil hidden within chocolate “soil” in an impressive cloud of dry ice. Don’t worry, the adults aren’t excluded from this imaginative affair, with classic smoked salmon blinis, tempting white chocolate cranberry scones and fruity macarons to satisfy the whole family.

The Kids’ Sci-Fi Afternoon Tea at The Ampersand costs £39.50 per child; adults’ menu £64.50pp.

11. Mirror Room at Rosewood London

Best for: Art enthusiasts

If you like to take your afternoon tea with a side of art, pastry chef Mark Perkins has recreated the work of internationally renowned artist Claude Monet on the Rosewood’s plates. Carefully curated pastries – mini ‘Art Cakes’ of Monet’s most celebrated masterpieces – stun in design, colour and taste as part of the Mirror Room’s ‘Art Afternoon Tea’ series. On the savoury side, think camembert custard tarts with pear chutney, lobster and prawn profiteroles and caviar with egg mayo on a brioche bun. Combine your delicacies with the Rosewood’s signature blend – what they call their 'Champagne of Teas', a luxurious infusion of Darjeeling tea leaves.

Monet-Inspired Art Afternoon Tea at Rosewood London from £80pp.

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12. Luxury Afternoon Tea at The Ritz

Best for: Tradition

The crème de la crème of London’s cream teas, The Ritz really know how to put on a showstopping serving of sandwiches. It’s fancy, it’s formal, it’s fresh and there are plenty of traditional treats to go around during the five daily 90-minute sittings. Scottish smoked salmon balances with lemon butter on sourdough bread, while brioche rolls of egg mayonnaise and watercress whet the palate before the main event – tiers of warm raisin and plain scones ready for spreading with Cornish clotted cream and strawberry preserve. With 20 different types of loose-leaf tea to choose from, an afternoon spent in this old-world opulence is a dream for special occasions.

Prices for Afternoon Tea at The Ritz start from £95pp.

13. Afternoon Tea with a View at The Shard

Best for: Views of London

Located on the 32nd floor of The Shard, Oblix East offers panoramic views of London’s spectacular skyline, and roomy armchairs to take it all in. The new menu is reasonably priced compared to some of the city’s hotel heavyweights, with a modern twist bringing new flavours to timeless classics. Sandwiches include smoked salmon and seaweed with cucumber, coronation chicken, mango chutney and coriander, and a prawn and avocado roll, while cranberry scones come with lashings of whipped clotted cream and raspberry preserve. For those more boozily inclined, for an additional £40 per person, a bottomless selection of prosecco and cocktails will accompany your pastry platter.

Oblix at The Shard classic Afternoon Tea from £59pp.

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14. Afternoon Tea at The Prince Akatoki

Best for: Asian-fusion

Steering clear of tradition, afternoon tea meets sumptuous sushi platters in a Japanese-inspired offering at the Prince Akatoki. Sips of sparkling sake can kickstart the flavourful experience, followed by the hotel’s standard afternoon tea stack. Choose from sandwiches and sushi such as yellowtail and tuna nigiri, smoked salmon and yuzu créme fraiche on granary bread, as well as katsu coronation chicken on sundried tomato bread. On the sweet side, tantalising tastes of Japanese matcha and pistachio operas, miso and yuzu punctuate Swiss rolls and scones filled with cranberries and matcha.

Afternoon Tea with sake in The Malt Lounge costs £60pp.

15. Afternoon Tea at Dean Street Townhouse

Best for: Value

Dean Street Townhouse ticks all the boxes for a traditional English afternoon tea experience without the steep price tag. This affordable afternoon tea features generous servings of egg mayo, smoked salmon and gin-and-tonic cucumber sandwiches, warm scones with homemade jams, and several blends of loose-leaf tea in blue and white china teapots. Better still, it’ll set you back £32, making this cosy setting of velvet chairs and mahogany panelling ideal for an affordable Mother’s Day treat. If you feel like splashing a bit more cash the afternoon tea with a flute of Thienot champagne will set you back £46.

Afternoon tea at Dean Street Townhouse costs £32pp

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16. ‘Elizabethan Royal Tea’ at InterContinental Park Lane

Best for: Royal echoes

In the Wellington Lounge at the InterContinental Park Lane, the site of Queen Elizabeth II’s former childhood home, you’ll find stacks of crockery accented with gold, promising a culinary journey of royal standards. The Royal Afternoon Tea is an ode to the legacy of Elizabeth II, so you can expect a tea spread fit for a queen, including sandwiches filled with coronation chicken, coriander and lime, or duck confit with herb whipped cream. For something sweet, try the queen’s favourite, a chocolate biscuit cake, alongside other flavours such as Earl Grey and orange marmalade domes and freshly baked scones.

Elizabethan Royal Tea at InterContinental Park Lane costs £85pp.

17. Afternoon Tea at The Stafford

Best for: Decadent desserts

The Stafford’s afternoon tea offers five-star service as it serves up irresistible sweets from a table-side trolley, plus raisin scones and classic sandwich combinations from cheese and onion to ham and mustard. Finish off with a chocolate, caramel and buckwheat mouse, Mont Blanc clementine confit with chestnuts and plain or raisin scones.

Afternoon Tea at the Stafford costs £78.

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