The Tea Guild's Award of Excellence Winners 2012

27th March 2012

38 special Awards of Excellence have been given to tea rooms across Britain in recognition of their outstanding quality and consistently high standards in tea service in 2012.

The Tea Guild Awards, now in their 27th year, are considered the 'Oscars' of afternoon tea industry, with the best tea rooms in Britain competing for the hugely coveted honour. Taking afternoon tea is a cherished experience steeped in British tradition and will be particularly popular this year as the British public and many of this year’s overseas visitors celebrate British traditions with the Queens Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Olympic Games.

The Tea Guild has awarded 38 special Awards of Excellence to tea rooms across Britain in recognition of their outstanding quality and consistently high standards in tea service. As well as researching and judging The Top Tea Place Award 2012, The Tea Guild’s team of inspectors have been searching the UK to seek out the annual winners of The Top London Afternoon Tea and The Top City and Country Hotel Tea 2012 Awards.

The winners were:

Abbey Cottage Tea Rooms (New Abbey, Dumfries)
Abbey Tea Rooms & Restaurant (Tewkesbury, Glocs)
Bettys Café Tea Rooms (Harrogate, North Yorkshire)
Bettys at RHS Gardens Harlow Carr (Harrogate, North Yorkshire)
Bettys Café Tea Rooms (Ilkley, West Yorkshire)
Bettys Café Tea Rooms (York, North Yorkshire)
Bullivant of York (York, North Yorkshire)
Cemlyn Tea Room (Harlech, Gwynedd)
Charlotte’s Tea House (Truro, Cornwall)
Cheristow Lavender Tea Rooms (Hartland, Devon)
Cream Tea Room (Stow on the Wold, Gloucs)
"Cup" (Byres Road, Glasgow)
Dartmoor Tearooms & Café (Moretonhampstead, Devon)
Davenports Tea Room (Northwich, Cheshire)
Derricks Tea Room (Cheddar, Somerset)
Elizabeth Botham & Sons (Whitby, North Yorkshire)
Flying Fifteens (Lowestoft, Suffolk)
Food for Thought (Westerham, Kent)
Gilbert White’s Tea Parlour (Selbourne, Hampshire)
Gillam’s Tea Room (Ulverston, Cumbria)
Ginger & Pickles (Nantwich, Cheshire)
Hazelmere Café & Bakery (Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria)
Juri’s - The Olde Bakery Tea Shoppe (Winchcombe, Glocs)
King John’s Hunting Lodge (Lacock, Wiltshire)
Bettys (Stonegate, York, North Yorkshire - previously known as "Little Bettys"))
Miss B’s Tea Rooms (Melton Mowbray, Leics)
Ollerton Watermill Tea Shop (Ollerton, Nottinghamshire)
Orange Pekoe (Barnes, SW London)
Peacocks Tearoom (Ely, Cambs)
Rectory Farm Tearooms (Morwenstow, Nr Bude, Cornwall)
Regency Tea Rooms (in The Jane Austen Centre, Bath)
Rocke cottage Tearooms (Craven Arms, Shropshire)
Roses Tea Rooms (Ness Botanical Gardens, S. Wirral)
Searcy at The Pump Room (Bath)
Tea on the Green (Danbury, Essex)
Tiffin Tearooms (Alresford, Hants)
The Corn Dolly (South Molton, Devon)
The Tea Shop (Wadebridge, Cornwall)