High Tea

I understand that supper is the term for the main evening meal in the south of England, but from the Midlands up to the North of England the evening meal is Tea. Whatever you eat, it is tea. Afternoon tea is posh sandwiches and little cakes and is served in cafes etc as a treat, though far too calorific! High tea is Scottish, as described earlier, with main course, then pot of tea, scones, cakes. Tea in Yorkshire is the main cooked meal, with or without a pudding. Supper in Yorkshire will be just a biscuit, or maybe crackers and cheese, or fruit cake and cheese. That is my experience, anyway.

When we were new to Yorkshire we were invited for supper in someone’s house. We did not eat beforehand, and were really hungry by the time the food was served, but there was plenty of it, especially the fruit cake, which I love. Always best to clarify!

Happy memories of the huge treat that was High Tea in the Playhouse Cinema Inverness’s restaurant, before watching the latest Walt Disney cartoon ‘fillum’. We always chose the fish and chips with bread and butter before tucking into the tea and cakes. Sadly, the place was burned down in the early 70’s by the projectionist, who turned out to have been a serial arsonist…

It all really depends on what you call your meals of the day and at what time you eat them. Words have changed since I married 40 +years ago.
I was brought up with breakfast,dinner at 12 o'clock and then tea at about 5 o'clock and supper 8/9 p.m. Where I live the farmers still stick to those terms and times with an early breakfast.
Now most of us call what would have been tea, supper and have it later at 5.30 or later.
When I married and moved we were invited for Dinner at people's houses, not black tie but a formal 3-course meal at about 8 pm. Now unless you were being pretentious you would invite people for supper not Dinner, we would still make a Dinner reservation in an hotel.
In Northern counties and Scotland, high tea was a mix of what we would now call supper and afternoon tea. A hot meal followed not by a pudding but a selection of cakes and scones. Afternoon tea is what it says it is a meal in the afternoon with sandwiches and cakes and I would love to have a Bettys one but we live too far away now.
What were school dinners at 12 midday are now called lunches

Georgesgran

Sorry, I seem to have misread the beginning of OP’s post. TBH at 70, I’ve never had or heard of what she describes as High Tea - it sounds like an awful lot of food at once? Of course afternoon tea is very different and a big money spinner now, especially with tourists.

It really is not much different to having a main course and a pudding. We all had one half slice of toast and the cakes were quite modest in size .

Thirty odd years ago I had a part time waitressing job in NW England and we served high tea. A hot meal accompanied by a pot of tea and bread and butter, followed by something from the dessert trolley!

SueDonim

My parents always had supper in the evenings, at about 9pm, after I’d gone to bed. I got to an age where I was convinced they were having all sorts of delights that we children were banned from having.

One evening I faked a stomach ache as an excuse to intrude on their supper, which, much to my disappointment, turned out to consist of a cup of tea and one rich tea biscuit each.

that is hilarious

Sunday ..

My OH often used to go for a high tea with his parents on a Dunday afternoon, back in his boarding school days.
I've just asked him to describe it. All he could come up with was "ham, egg and chips"!

We used to have High Tea on a Sunday at Boarding School. It was great.

Sorry, I seem to have misread the beginning of OP’s post. TBH at 70, I’ve never had or heard of what she describes as High Tea - it sounds like an awful lot of food at once? Of course afternoon tea is very different and a big money spinner now, especially with tourists.

Georgesgran

In Durham what the OP has described as High Tea is what we’d call afternoon tea, served after 3.30. Nothing hot, although scones could be warmed. Surely it’s not a Northern thing as The Ritz in London does a roaring trade in this. Obviously (as I should’ve been born in Harrogate) I’ve got to give a shout out to Betty’s Tea Rooms, who’s offering, I think, beat The Ritz. I’m with Fanny on this one.

No high tea and afternoon tea are very different - you don't get high tea at the Ritz!

High tea is a main meal, a hot dinner such as a roast, pie or fish and chips etc with bread and butter, cake and tea

Used to see it a lot at seaside resorts when I was a child

These days you sometimes see places that confuse High tea with Afternoon tea as they think that "high" tea sounds posher
- High tea - was always a main meal - usually hot meal or substantial salad with bread and butter, cake and a pot of tea
- Afternoon tea was sandwiches, scones, cake and tea

Georgesgran

In Durham what the OP has described as High Tea is what we’d call afternoon tea, served after 3.30. Nothing hot, although scones could be warmed. Surely it’s not a Northern thing as The Ritz in London does a roaring trade in this. Obviously (as I should’ve been born in Harrogate) I’ve got to give a shout out to Betty’s Tea Rooms, who’s offering, I think, beat The Ritz. I’m with Fanny on this one.

What the op describes is not afternoon tea! It’s high tea! Even in Durham!

Grandmabatty yes ? I remember small restaurants (not cafes) that served this type of ordinary British food right up until about 1980s then they all but vanished.
Yes there were tablecloths and a choice of hot pudding with custard.
After that the wine bars seemed to take over with Quiche and salads?

My parents always had supper in the evenings, at about 9pm, after I’d gone to bed. I got to an age where I was convinced they were having all sorts of delights that we children were banned from having.

One evening I faked a stomach ache as an excuse to intrude on their supper, which, much to my disappointment, turned out to consist of a cup of tea and one rich tea biscuit each.

I’m not Scottish and I’ve definitely heard of it. Sounds like an excellent idea! Used to have something similar, a bit less substantial, at a GM’s house for tea.

In Durham what the OP has described as High Tea is what we’d call afternoon tea, served after 3.30. Nothing hot, although scones could be warmed. Surely it’s not a Northern thing as The Ritz in London does a roaring trade in this. Obviously (as I should’ve been born in Harrogate) I’ve got to give a shout out to Betty’s Tea Rooms, who’s offering, I think, beat The Ritz. I’m with Fanny on this one.

Gosh £45 for two gins! I paid £27 in Chester once for two and nearly fainted

We have High Tea every week with our elderly neighbour. We always had it every Saturday growing up.

High tea here in South Yorkshire was the main meal that greeted those returning home from work in the early evening. Meat and veg, a stew, casserole or meat pie, fish on Friday, followed by something like rice pudding, or some other hot pudding. Very calorific. Salad was for Sunday tea only.

The difference is high tea includes a starter of something cooked/savoury, then all the cakes as per afternoon tea which starts with sandwiches instead. I havnt seen it anywhere here in the south other than the Savoy which did us proud.

Two gins cost £45 though in the American bar. A one off treat.
No doubt post covid it’s even more expensive.

As an aside what is supper? The Archers are always having it, does it replace evening dinner if you have had a main meal at lunch time ? Is it high and afternoon teas combined? Is it an excuse fir an extra meal? I should google but it’s nicer getting everyone’s opinion.

MawtheMerrier

Scotland and I am sure the North of England. Wakes too?
Yes, it is a knife and fork meal and I get incredibly irritated at people who refer to “posh” afternoon tea - the sort with dainty tiny sandwiches and cake stands of equally dainty scones and fancies, - as “high tea” !

Agree. I think the Aussies refer to afternoon as high tea…
At home if we had high tea it was instead of dinner? Evening meal

I know of several WI groups who go on day trips to places of interest followed by a high tea at a hotel on the way home.

Don't agree there FannyCornforth I'm from Yorkshire and high tea was served usually on a Sunday. Not a meal only for children, it was a family affair with a hot main course or salad followed by tinned fruit with cream or evaporated milk. Then there were cakes. We ate bread and butter as well with the main course.
High tea was often served when we had guests.
Afternoon tea is a delight with small sandwiches, fresh fruit & cream and lots of small cakes. My husband & I have done several of these for charity events in France.

High tea was served in hotels in Northern Ireland when I was a child. Once a year we would make the long journey to Belfast ( pre motorway) to go to Balmoral show which was the highlight for farmers. We always had high tea in The Kensington Hotel before making the nearly hour journey home. I remember they served things like mixed grill or plaice and chips. The Kensington Hotel ceased to exist a long time ago and that journey only takes 90 minutes these days. Not sure hotels in NI serve high tea any more.