Cafe Royal [Old London]

You do not get more Old London than the Cafe Royal at the bottom of Regent Street, opened as a restaurant on the same spot in 1865, and recently revived as a luxury hotel after a period of closure from 2008-2012. It claims many famous past guests, Winston Churchill, Virginia Wolf, Oscar Wilde, Brigitte Bardot, Princess Diana, and David Bowie being among the best known. The Wilde connection is carried on in the eponymous Oscar Wilde lounge, opulently redecorated, and now devoted to all-day afternoon teas, Not for them, however, your everyday afternoon tea; everything is imaginatively themed, though you will have to hurry to catch the David Bowie themed tea, on offer in February and March 2026