Young Londoners tuck into teatime trend

Young people are fuelling a boom in the popularity of afternoon teas in London.

The custom, which dates from the 1840s and spread throughout the British Empire and beyond, is enjoying a resurgence, with hotels and restaurants across the capital recording a surge in bookings.

The UK Tea Guild estimates there has been a 20 per cent increase in afternoon teas in the last year, with hen parties and birthdays adding to the rise. Some London hotels have waiting lists for teatime tables of up to seven weeks and numbers are expected to rise during the Diamond Jubilee and Olympics.

The Athenaeum Hotel in Mayfair was awarded Top London Afternoon Tea 2012 in the Tea Guild Awards.

Irene Gorman, head of the Tea Guild at the UK Tea Council, said people associate afternoon tea with maiden aunts but it is one of the biggest revenues in the food and beverage world. She added: “Afternoon tea has become a fashionable alternative to ‘doing lunch’ and huge numbers of people from London Fashion Week socialised over afternoon tea. There are so many varieties now that people now look at teas like wines — it has become an experience.”

Emma Sanderson, 26, from Shoreditch, said: “I prefer going for afternoon tea than going to the pub as you can have a proper catch up with friends in a comfy intimate setting with more in-depth conversations.”