Date visited: Monday 3rd March 2025
The Abbey Tea Bar is in The Abbey Hotel, on North Parade in Bath. While the hotel building dates from 1739 and is Grade II* listed by Historic England, it is only since autumn of 2024 that it has re-branded its restaurant as a ‘tea bar’. There are plenty of tables inside as well as a dozen tables outside for those wishing to take tea. Open from 11 am to 9 pm for those that aren’t staying at the hotel, the evening menu, served after 5.30 pm, is conventional hotel evening fare, rather than what one might expect of a tea room.
The daytime menu offered six different finger sandwiches and six different sourdough sandwiches. There was a choice of seven cakes or cream teas. Oddly, scones with just butter weren’t offered. There was a choice of six loose leaf and seven bagged teas, all from Hope and Glory. Other beverages included coffees, soft drinks, wines and beers.
There are two entrances to the tea bar: one from the hotel reception, with a notice asking customers to wait to be seated, and one directly from outside where bizarrely there’s no sign displayed at all. After waiting a few minutes to be seated in what at the time was an empty room, I was asked by the waitress if I’d like a tea or coffee, before I’d even had a chance to see the drinks menu. I asked for a pot of jasmine pearls tea, which was served almost immediately, in a clear plastic teapot with a chipped spout. Fortunately the damage did not affect its pouring ability. The tea was excellent, but cooled quite quickly.
Unfortunately, I seemed to have arrived around the time of a shift change for the hotel staff, and had to ask the replacement waiter to take the rest of my order. I chose a coronation chicken sourdough sandwich, and a slice of coffee, walnut and carrot cake which, together with the tea, in total came to £20.35. The coronation chicken sandwich, served with some crisps and a sprinkling of salad, was quite light for £10.50, with the bread not really exhibiting any sourdough flavour. The cake was quite dry, with the cream having an artificial coffee flavour and the nuts that were embedded in the sponge tasting slightly stale. As there was quite a gap between the tea being served and the rest of my meal, I was pleased that the staff were willing to top up the teapot with more water.
During my visit on a Monday lunchtime, customers were limited to a couple that arrived shortly after me, and a group of six taking a break from a meeting in one of the hotel rooms. The couple had the misfortune of being served a frozen scone, which the waiter dealt with quickly. Service from both the waiter and earlier the waitress was affable, and it’s unfortunate that they were let down by the food they had to offer their customers.
