This place isn't really that secret, even though you do have to go through the bar of the famous Coach and Horses boozer to get to it. It's kitsch, without feeling contrived, and they've got a very impressive range of teas, served with aplomb to the soothing sounds of swing.

This is somewhere to go if you want to be really poncey. It's incredibly sophisticated - there's a pianist and everything - and the teas, cakes and sandwiches are impeccable. Start things off with a glass of bubbly though, otherwise you're just not doing it right.

This splendid restaurant located within the Andaz Hotel, is a little incongruous, what with grubby Liverpool Street right outside. The afternoon tea, though, is sophistication personified, with particularly good patisserie and the opportunity to turn your cup of tea into a tea cocktail. Which is advised.

Sure, it's got its detractors but the Oxo Tower Restaurant still has sublime views and some very good food. The afternoon tea here is pretty impressive, but it's made even better when, scone in hand, you gaze out across our beautiful capital's polluted horizon.

This very swish dining room at the very swish Soho hotel serves one of the best afternoon teas in London. It's certainly sophisticated, but it's got the kind of Soho vibe that makes staying on for cocktails far, far too easy.

Sketch is one of those places you just have to see, and not only for the toilets that applause your completion. The afternoon tea at The Parlour is one of the easiest ways to see this stunning venue, and the tea itself really isn't bad. In fact, it's rather good.

The Lanesborough's afternoon tea - hosted within Heinz Beck's Michelin-starred restaurant - is certainly one to try. It has won a number of highfalutin awards thanks to Tal Hausen's excellent pastries, but perhaps the best thing about it is the tea sommelier who sashays around the room offering spot-on advice on the humble - and not so humble - brew.

The stunning Langham Hotel plays host to one of the capital's very best afternoon teas, and it does so very well indeed. Housed within Palm Court (the perfect place in which to come over all decadent) the afternoon tea is every bit the equal of the lovely setting. Which probably explains why it's won so many very fine awards.