For an event/attraction with such a big name Altitude 360 was a bit of a let-down. It would have been a total waste of time had it not been for the stunning views that it’s location has access to. Altitude 360 is located on the 29th Floor of Millbank Tower one of the few high rises and arguably the tallest building sitting alongside the Thames. Millbank Tower is also where my head office used to be!
Altitude 360 offers both afternoon tea (£87.50 for two!) and brunch (£109 + premiums for sitting at the window!) The savvy will look online for vouchers or deals which offer significant discounts (£35 and £39 respectively) which is what I did before visiting. Thank goodness.
Caro and I were early by ten minutes for our 2.30 appointment … but they still made us wait until 2.45 to send us up to the 29th floor. Once we got upstairs there was no hostess to take us to our seat. The second sign that this wasn’t going to be an amazing experience. She did turn up a few minutes later but only after we’d started to wander into the main room. We were then taken to our seating – and I couldn’t believe that the place was practically half empty. It wasn’t a very warm or welcoming environment with white tiling everywhere. I guess its because the room is used for many sorts of functions.
Afternoon tea included unlimited tea and coffee (from a limited selection) but food-wise it was not unlimited. We did get a selection of six different sandwiches, all of which were actually pretty tasty and moist (from the looks of them we had been worried they would be dry.). Cakes were pretty average but the scones were nice though in a criminal move they gave us about a tablespoon full of clotted cream and jam and a dribble of lemon curd! Odd. Scones did come out warm … though of course by the time we got to them they were cold.
Oh and disappointingly tea came as teabags rather than as tea leaves. Hmm. But Caro said the coffee was good.
From a service perspective our waitress was friendly enough, and though it was probably not entirely her fault it took ages for her to bring out our top ups of tea and clotted cream. She was however apologetic about it. On that note, despite the fact the place was half empty, the whole venue was seemingly under-staffed and we couldn’t find out waitress half the time. When we arrived many tables hadn’t even been cleared!
For the afternoon tea alone I can’t imagine anyone would have paid full price for the experience. Nearly £44 for what we had today? Outrageous. The views, however, were stunning. It was indeed a (nearly) 360 degree view around London. We were lucky to be located on the Westminster side of things were most of the cooler buildings and views were. What else can I say except to post a lot of photos of the views:
Altitude 360 is not a typical afternoon tea venue. It is a pretty relaxed atmosphere and therefore it felt a bit much to get too dressed up. Most people had to keep leaving their seats to see the views so this kind of added to the feeling of informality.
Overall I am glad that I was able to take advantage of an offer to get to Altitude 360. Definitely advise you look for some sort of deal as it is otherwise seriously over-priced. There have been a lot of complaints by people on various websites that even the discounted price is a rip-off but it could be argued that at £17.50 per person (the discounted price) is comparable with getting a ticket on the London Eye but with much more sweeping views and also an afternoon tea included. So I guess fair value … but only because of the views.
