Churchill War Rooms Cafe, London in City of London, Westminster

Suggest giving the cafe a swerve and if you want to spend, donate your money to IWM instead. Went on 16th April. Ordered cream tea, no decaf tea so had a decaf Nescafé sachet for £8. Long time to get served despite 3 staff members and not much of a queue. They were looking at pots of clotted cream and putting them back in the fridge for about 5-10 mins and went to the kitchen to get fresh. Then returned with cream, I immediately challenged that the date on the cream was 14th April and we were on 16th. I was advised that the fresh Roddas clotted cream can last for a year out the fridge so the best before date is 14th April 2025 not 2024 and it’s ok. Fresh cream does not last 12 months. It was clear it was known too by the behaviour and speed of service I asked for a refund, the member of staff said yes. Then no one returned. Waited 10 mins and went back to the counter the request refund for the cake, I paid for the coffee as I’d drank that whilst waiting. Whilst getting a refund and paying for the coffee, the supervisor threw the cream in the bin, which I challenged. If you don’t have suitable cream that’s fine, lying about it when it’s clearly out of date is poor form and led to slow and unpleasant service. It also made me feel very uncomfortable when I raised it as I didn’t want to eat out of date food.

We would have liked to have a drink etc., before going round the War Rooms, but as it is about ⅔rds of the way round this was a minor niggle. There was no decaffeinated available. Which my consultant advises me to ask for. Hmm. Then we were given our cups without saucers, which were there on the shelf. The sandwich was quite good. The soup came in an enamel mug, for atmosphere. While the coffee came in a proper (not disposable) cup. Nothing wonderful, but adequate