This post is about an Afternoon Tea at the KING’S CARRIAGE TEA HOUSE on Wednesday, May 10th at 2pm at 251 East 82nd St (between Second and Third Avenues). The cost of this event is $49. MWC’ers who wish to attend can purchase their “ticket” from MWC organizer Kay F. using her Venmo code which is on the “King’s Carriage Tea” channel on MWC-SLACK. Capacity is limited. Additional details about the event are on the MWC-SLACK channel as well. If you perhaps would like a glass of wine or bubbly to accompany your tea you are welcome to ask for an additional, separate, check.
My grandmother, Margaret Lucille Rowbottom, felt that very few problems couldn’t be solved over an afternoon spot of tea and a few biscuits. And she had a point – the courtliness, the slower pace, the emphasis on conversation, the good manners and, of course, the pastries, scones and tea sandwiches worked their magic.
So what better time to get together with friends for a quintessential English tradition? It might even be a good time to discuss the details of King Charles III’s coronation the previous week-end – there’s sure to be a lot of gossip to be gone over!
People tend to associate change and newness with New York – but just as amazing is how many things have NOT changed. 251 East 82nd Street is one of the many small buildings tucked into the blocks between the avenues where they historically housed service businesses for the larger and grander buildings on the avenues. And many of them are still around. The King’s Carriage House was at one time a Hungarian Bookstore and in the 1940’s it was a printing shop. Fortunately, in the mid-1990’s a very determined Elizabeth Farrell saw the building and mounted a campaign to find and persuade the owner to let her open a classic English tea emporium there. And almost thirty years later, here WE are!
