Dinosaurs & Teddy Bears: The Best Children’s Afternoon Teas in London
The best children’s afternoon teas in London, from Peter Rabbit pastries to snozzberry tarts and a teddy bears’ picnic...
Lead Image: The Peter Rabbit Afternoon Tea at Le Meridien Piccadilly
1 Claridge’s Children’s Afternoon Tea
For an absolute treat, the children's afternoon tea at Claridges is is exquisite. A traditional tea, it is elegantly simple and comes with finger sandwiches of the likes of duck egg mayonnaise, gammon ham and cheddar cheers, as well as freshly baked scones and fanciful treats to end on like a happy face, raspberry tart and a strawberry ice cream cone.
Availability: Daily; 2.45pm-5.30pm
Price: £45
Address: Brook Street W1K 4HR
Website: claridges.co.uk
2 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Afternoon Tea at One Aldwych
If you were ever wondering how to make your snozzcumber, swudge or wallpaper more tasty, One Alswych in the heart of theatreland might be able to give you some tips. It brings to life Roald Dahl's fantastical creations - which is no small task as everlasting gobstoppers, chewing gum meals and fizzy lifting drinks are the stuff of childhood daydreams. So discover the likes of the not-quite-as-it seems salmon and beetroot macaron, wonderous cakes and lemon sherbet tea, and enjoy
Availability: Wednesday to Friday 12pm-3pm; Saturday, Sunday & school holidays
Cost: From £35
Address: 1 Aldwych WC2B 4BZ
Website: onealdwych.com
3 Children's Afternoon Tea, Sofitel London St James
Not far from Buckingham Palace, the hotel's pastry chefs, Jamie Warley and Andrea Viven have put an imaginative spin on a traditional afternoon tea, which you can enjoy in the sumptuous Rose Lounge. Their playful five-course meal comes with a sense of theatre and includes an edible painter’s palette and paints, which you can actually paint with, a marshmallow burger served with churros as fries and strawberry milkshake, followed by freshly baked scones served with clotted cream and jam.
Availability: Friday to Sunday; 12pm-4pm
Cost: £30
Address: 6 Waterloo Pl, St. James's SW1Y 4AN
Website: sofitelstjames.com
4 Peter Pan Afternoon Tea, Aqua Shard
How fitting; an afternoon tea based on the ultimate man child, Peter Pan the boy who never wanted to grow up. Every dish, from the sausage roll and the egg mayo sandwich to the sweet treats and cocktails (for you, caregiver), have been given a name so delightfully whimsical you'd be forgiven for thinking you were about to bite into a child's imagination. So get stuck into that Fairy Dust and savour the Tinker Bell, Little Bird and one of Peter's Secret Never Tree Entrances. For the adults, make yours one with champagne. And don't forget to enjoy the view.
Availability: Monday to Saturday 12.15pm-3.15pm
Cost: From £52 per head, with £2 going to Great Ormand Street Hospital Charity
Address: Level 31, The Shard, 31 St Thomas Street SE1 9RY
Website: aquashard.co.uk
5 Jurassic Afternoon Tea at Ampersand Hotel
Celebrating Dippy the Dinosaur's homecoming to the nearby Natural Science Museum earlier this year, you've got T-Rex cheese straws, dinosaur jam sandwiches a dark chocolate & caramel dinosaur egg nest and a mixed berries T-Rex footprint macaron, among the dino-themed treats. Adults can try the gin-based Dino Sour or the tequila based T-Rex Mex as well.
Availability: Monday to Sunday 12pm-5.30pm
Cost: From £35
Address: 10 Harrington Road, SW7 3ER
Website: ampersandhotel.com
6 Teddy Bears’ Picnic at London Hilton Park Lane
The Teddy Bears’ Picnic Afternoon Tea at London Hilton on Park Lane includes bite-sized delicacies, finger food and treats as well as a cuddly Hamley’s teddy bear for the kids to take home! Colourful and fun, the meal features scrumptious Teddy Bear sandwiches, freshly baked plain, raisin and chocolate chip mini scones served with strawberry jam, whipped cream and Nutella, as well as pastries and miniature fancies such as meringue mushroom, teddy and puzzle biscuits and a chocolate sponge cake pop.
Availability: Friday to Sunday 12.30pm-4.30pm
Address: 22 Park Lane, Mayfair W1K 1BE
Website: podiumrestaurant.com
7 Peter Rabbit Afternoon Tea at The Dilly
Mr McGregor’s garden comes to life in this nostalgic Peter Rabbit afternoon tea at Le Méridien Piccadilly. Inspired by the original Beatrix Potter tale, this is another tea with morsels so playfully named they charm you into devouring them. Fittingly, the treats also sound like they've been plucked straight from a magical cottage garden - the Flower-Pot Hideout is chamomile mousse and blackberry gel inside an edible chocolate pot and splashed in chocolate mud, for example.
Availability: Monday to Sunday; 12:30pm-5pm
Cost: £39/£49 child/adult
Address: 21 Piccadilly, Mayfair W1J 0BH
Website: thedillylondon.com
8 Tiny Tea at Bluebird, Chelsea
This tea is usually one just for school holidays, so double check it's availability. Cheap and cheerful, you've got mono-ingredient sandwiches - ham, cheese and cucumber - as well as mini scones and Oreo shakes, jammy dodgers and brownies for a sugary treat. If you fancy having an afternoon tea as well, there's a more grown up one serving up all the classics.
Availability: From August 4; Thursday to Sunday; 3pm-4:30pm
Cost: £14.95
Address: 350 King’s Road, Chelsea SW3 5UU
Website: bluebird-restaurant.co.uk
9 Alice in Wonderland Afternoon Tea at The Franklin, Kensington
Take a tumble down the rabbit hole with The Franklin London's afternoon tea inspired by Alice in Wonderland and the recent exhibition at the V&A “Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser”. Offering an imaginative twist on what a modern-day Alice might have eaten after her adventures in Wonderland, enjoy choices from a fluffy bun filled with crab meat to a caramel cupcake decorated with a white rabbit and caterpillar.
Availability: Monday to Sunday 2pm to 4pm
Cost: From £50
Address: 24 Egerton Gardens, SW3 2DB
Website: collezione.starhotels.com
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