The Coolest Afternoon Tea Bus London Tour You Have To Try

There are many things associated with London and British culture in general. Football, pints, royalty, culture, double decker buses and of course, afternoon tea. I’ve been to London 6 times now and I never stop finding new and cool things to do. My list of things I want to see and do in London grows every time I’m there so I don’t think it’s ever going to be a city I feel like I’ve had enough of (although, is any city like that?). I digress. One of the things I’ve wanted to do in London for a long time that I didn’t get to before this trip was an afternoon tea. I’ve had afternoon teas in Toronto before and wanted to try something a little bit different. I found out about the afternoon tea bus London tour on Instagram and was instantly hooked!

We didn’t have reservations ahead of time but made them while in London (about 2 days before the actual tour). I was so happy with the tour I couldn’t help but share but I want to point out that this was definitely not a sponsored post. I paid for the tour myself, I just really, really enjoyed it is all.

The Basic Details of the Afternoon Tea Bus Tour

Afternoon Tea Bus TourPrice: Your price will depend on your seat with the top deck being more expensive (but the view is completely worth it). Prices start at 45 pounds per person and go higher depending on your selections. There are 6 tables upstairs and 4 tables downstairs. The price will range based on the location of the table that you choose. I think our tickets rang in at about 55 pounds and we sat on the top deck. There is a 3.20 pounds booking fee when making your booking online as well. You can book your tickets here.
Duration: Approximately 1.5 hours (depending on traffic of course which can be notoriously bad)
Pick-Up: There’s two alternatives for pickup. The 12:30 pm and 3 pm tours depart just off Trafalgar Square (specifically at 8 Northumberland Avenue, WC2N 5BY). The 12 pm, 2:30 pm and 5 pm tours depart from Victoria Coach Station.
Dietary Restrictions: The tour can accommodate vegetarian, pescatarian and halal diets. Vegan diets and gluten free diets can also be accommodated at an additional 3 pounds per person. They do not cater to nut allergies and are unable to accommodate the combination of dairy and gluten free nor the combination of vegan and gluten free. They’re also unable to guarantee 100% gluten free. Make sure you read the instructions regarding allergies during the check out process!

The tour is organized and run by B Bakery. They’ve got a physical location in Convent Garden if you want to pick up some pastries after your tour as well.

If you’re interested in renting out the entire bus (or either the top or bottom half of the bus) that’s an option as well. Reach out to the team directly to organize this.

Important to note: There is no washroom on the bus so make sure you go before boarding the bus!

Also important to note: Unfortunately this afternoon tea bus London tour is not accessible and those using a wheelchair would not be able to participate.

Afternoon Tea Bus Tour

Afternoon Tea Bus Tour

The Food and Drinks

Drink Selection on the Afternoon Tea Bus Tour
Tea Cup on the Afternoon Tea Bus Tour
Savory Treats at the Afternoon Tea Bus Tour

<Savory Treats at the Afternoon Tea Bus Tour
Desserts at the Afternoon Tea Bus Tour

Desserts at the Afternoon Tea Bus Tour

Desserts at the Afternoon Tea Bus Tour

Scones as part of the afternoon tea bus tour

I was majorly impressed with the food offered. And holy. The sheer quantity of food. I’ve had afternoon teas before yet I magically forget just how incredibly filling the food can be. If you can’t finish it they’ll help you pack it up at the end of the trip which is great!

There’s a number of different tea options in addition to coffee and hot chocolate available (see the full list at the top of this section) You can also have fresh orange juice and bottled orange juice. They’ll come around and refill quite often so you can try a couple of different things. Remember there’s no bathroom though!

The food is served on a beautiful two-tier dish with the savory food at the bottom and the sweet food at the top. Every person gets one of each item to try.

As listed on the website, the traditional savory dishes are: pastrami with slice of gherkin, burger with tomato bread and mustard and mayo sauce, pretzel with chives, cream cheese and fresh salmon, ham and cheese finger sandwich, cucumber and cream cheese finger sandwich and stilton and leek muffin with walnut.

The traditional sweet dishes are: lemon tart with meringue, red choux with vanilla creme patissiere and raspberry coulis, chocolate cupcake and sable breton with cream cheese.

You can see the menus for the halal afternoon tea, vegan afternoon tea, vegetarian afternoon tea and the gluten free afternoon tea on the official website.

My only disappointment was that the meal didn’t include scones as that’s one of my favourite parts of afternoon tea but lo and behold, about halfway through the tour scones were served! They came with super cute little jam jars that you could keep. Such a nice touch!

If you’re worried about your tea spilling you don’t need to be, there are convenient cup holders that hold your cup and all the cups come with lids!

The Route

As mentioned above, pick up can be done from two different locations: Victoria Coach Station or just off Trafalgar Square.

If you’ve never been in London before this is actually a great sightseeing tour as well since it goes past a lot of the incredibly major sites. I’ve definitely been to London before but my husband has not. We only had like 3.5 days in London so there was no way I was going to be able to show him everything I wanted to and this tour actually hit some sights I wasn’t able to squeeze onto our itinerary.

Major sites include the London Eye, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminister Abbey, St. James’s Park, Hyde Park, the Royal Albert All, Marble Arch, Nelson’s Column, Downing Street and so much more. There’s a speaker system on the bus and the hosts give small tidbits about the stops the bus makes which is pretty cool. Because of London traffic you can usually grab some pictures too because you do end up sitting in traffic sometimes!      Trafalgar Square on the Afternoon Tea Bus Tour

Big Ben on the Afternoon Tea Bus Tour
Have you tried out this unique afternoon tea in London? Would you if you haven’t? Let me know in the comments and pin this post for an upcoming trip!

Afternoon Tea Bus Tour on a Double Decker

18 Comments

  1. December 15, 2017 / 8:56 pm

    Such a mouthwatering post. Loving to read ?

  2. Alyse
    December 15, 2017 / 9:14 pm

    You can’t get much more British than this! How awesome are all those little cupcakes?! I’d love to experience this *drools*. A shame that Big Ben was photobombed by scaffolding but maybe that means you’ll just have to go back ? Thanks for sharing!

  3. December 16, 2017 / 4:34 am

    I just loved this idea, I was sitting at a pub one day down from Buckingham Palace and saw the bus go by and said to my husband – “that, I want to do that” it looks like such fun.

  4. December 16, 2017 / 8:51 am

    Ahh this is really interesting to read another perspective on this tour (and your photos are gorgeous!). I wrote my own post about this tour about two years ago…. and I had a really different experience. I wanted to love it so much but we found the service to be really abominable, and even though they have specific reservations for people with dietary requirements, they ran out of food for me (we had a night tour) and we didn’t receive any refund. It was pretty bad. BUT it looks like you had an amazing time, and I’m really tempted to try it again someday, hoping our experience was a one-off!

  5. December 16, 2017 / 11:12 am

    A friend has booked this bus for her birthday next spring and I’m lucky enough to be one of her guests. I was already looking forward to it, but I’m even more excited now. It sounds and looks wonderful.

  6. December 16, 2017 / 11:24 am

    Ever since I found out about this I have been wanting to do it. So jealous you got to!

  7. December 16, 2017 / 11:26 am

    This is on my to-do list for my next trip to London! It looks like so much fun!

  8. December 16, 2017 / 4:06 pm

    oh my! What a great activity, tea and a double-decker bus tour in one. Thanks for sharing this, it’s so added to my bucket list now 😀 Also making me crave for those yummy pastries right now, lol

  9. Anisa
    December 16, 2017 / 4:26 pm

    I love afternoon tea. I think doing it on a double decker bus sounds like a lot of fun and I agree the top deck looks totally worth it.

  10. December 16, 2017 / 4:28 pm

    Ohh wow, I like the double decker. In India, in my city also they ran double-decker for many years. The top front seat was my favourite. Great photos. It’s in my bucket list now.

  11. Cherene Saradar
    December 16, 2017 / 5:25 pm

    How cool is this! What a great idea. I LOVE afternoon tea and would definitely do this. The food pics had me drooling.

  12. December 17, 2017 / 3:57 am

    This seems an awesome thing to do! And those munchies, mmmmm…. I’m sure this was one of the highlights of your trip. I know it would be mine =D

  13. December 17, 2017 / 11:10 am

    THIS IS AMAZING!! I’ve never heard of this and it’s a new dream!

  14. December 20, 2017 / 8:05 am

    Ahh I heard about this ages ago and would love to do it! It sounds and looks amazing, so much food too!

  15. December 22, 2017 / 2:52 pm

    I love double decker tours. You have the possibility to see everything around without watching your feet.

  16. December 23, 2017 / 9:41 am

    This sounds great and was already on my list of things to do in London when I go in the new year. I’ve been to London many times and every time I go I make sure to book afternoon tea. My favourite so far is The Orangerie in Kensington Palace. It’s especially nice in summer.
    Annette Duvdevani
    http://www.minutebyminutetraveller.com

  17. January 8, 2018 / 2:23 pm

    For a while we’d said we must give the B Bakery Afternoon Tea Bus Tour a go but never got around to it. So, when we won Afternoon Tea for two at a social media meetup in January we were absolutely delighted! Getting to ride London’s iconic vintage Routemaster is a treat, to do it whilst eating tasty cake… awesome!! ? ? ?

  18. August 21, 2018 / 3:13 pm

    Thanks for the excellent post

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