Shhh… It’s a Secret!

One of my favourite lunchtime haunts in Manchester is Sugar Junction – think vintage styling, mismatched china, homemade cakes and tea! So when I heard about Soho’s Secret Tea Room (shhh, it’s a secret!) I knew I had to pay a visit on my trip to London. What I knew was that there would be tea, cakes, vintage china, and excitingly, it was secret.

The tea room is housed upstairs in The Coach and Horses pub in Soho and is accessed through a door housed behind the bar. This means you have to request access to the Secret Tea Room by asking the bar man – use your imagination and it’s like entering an illicit speakeasy! A nice twist! Once inside it was all loveliness and refinement and was like being transported back to the forties. We were greeted by staff dressed in vintage styling with forties jazz and wartime tunes playing from a record player in the corner of the room, and we sat at a table by the window, surrounded by lace curtains and tablecloths, cute flowers and teacups.

We considered what to order for a minute, but seeing that everyone else in the place had the full afternoon tea and not wanting to experience “food envy”, that’s what we ordered. For the price of £17.50 we got a round of delicate sandwiches (crusts off for extra refinement…), scones with jam and clotted cream, a selection of the cakes on offer (all delicious), and a pot of tea, which they topped up.

Overall Soho’s Secret Tea Room is nice little place to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city, and a great first stop when you arrive in London hungry after a two hour train ride.