Last Updated on January 23, 2026

Roll up, roll up for circus-themed delights

The Circus Afternoon Tea is the newest afternoon tea offering from the boutique five-star Vintry & Mercer in the City, joining the hotel’s acclaimed The Crown Afternoon Tea and The Magic Afternoon Tea. Each themed tea is served in a different space.

Vintery and Mercer Hotel - Circus Afternoon Tea

The Circus Afternoon Tea is served in the Vintry Kitchen on the ground floor, a relaxed café that is New York-like in its design, with wooden ceiling fans, glass skylights and lots of green foliage. My teenage son particularly liked the “eco-décor”.

On being seated, we were given a small carton of popcorn each, along with a glazed cherry containing poppy candy, which got us straight into the theme. We were also given a beautiful menu that, while quite thick, didn’t fully detail the contents of the tea.

Circus Afternoon Tea at Vintry and Mercer

We both ordered the standard Circus Afternoon Tea, with other options being a vegetarian version, the Junior Circus Tea for children, and a standard cream tea. To drink, I had an alcoholic Cotton Candy Carnival, one of the special Circus Tea Pot Tails on offer. It looked good and tasted even better, with a nice portion of cotton candy. My son’s hot chocolate was a semi-do-it-yourself affair, which he found pleasingly satisfying: he was given a chocolate lollipop to stir into a circus-themed mug of hot milk and a pot of marshmallows.

The beautifully presented tea arrived in a flourish on a multi-tiered cake stand, with the waiter pouring dry ice into a small dish on the top for a suitably flamboyant touch. A lot of detail has gone into creating the tea, particularly in the top tier of cakes, which are all circus-themed.

We were given four types of sandwiches: truffled egg mayonnaise brioche buns, coronation chicken with mango chutney, smoked salmon with herb cream cheese, and mini Yorkshire puddings containing roast beef and horseradish. The latter were outstanding, and our clear favourite, and we gratefully took up the waiter’s offer of a second portion of these. Both the medium-rare roast beef and the Yorkshire pudding base were perfectly cooked. It’s a great idea that I haven’t seen done anywhere else.

The scones were classic, with two plain and two fruit, and arrived warm, served with jam and Cornish clotted cream. They were also well-made and a good size.

Then onto the cake part of the Circus afternoon tea. This was a generous selection, in both size and number, and I took a few home in a box because I couldn’t finish mine (my son, however, didn’t have that problem). There was the ‘Big Top’, a raspberry and lemon curd mouse covered in red chocolate, a large Carousel Macaron’ in peach and raspberry, a chocolate cake pop called ‘Balancing Nelly’, and ‘Bobo the Clown’, a blackberry and white chocolate cheesecake. By far my favourite was the cake pop, as it was both ‘pop’ by name and nature, including poppy candy in the moist chocolate cake. The others were also very good, although they would have been altogether too fruity for me if I’d eaten them in one go. There was a lot of artistry in the cake decorations, which we really appreciated, and children will especially enjoy the wonderment and circus details.

The Circus afternoon tea was a high-quality, thoughtful and delicious event, and I really enjoyed sharing it with my son. It was a lovely, colourful treat on a wintry day. The service was excellent, and the place was relaxed. After we finished, I went up to the hotel’s beautiful roof terrace, where they serve the Crown Afternoon Tea, to take in the view of London rooftops and St Paul’s Cathedral. It is a gorgeous hotel that I will recommend to people I know looking for a place to stay in central London (a few doors down from Mansion House tube station), and it is also a great place to have a delicious afternoon tea.