During the summer, at the end of your visit to the State Rooms, you can enjoy a moment of relaxation and refreshment in the Garden Café on the Palace’s West Terrace. The café serves a selection of light refreshments, including tea, coffee, sandwiches and delicious pastries, specially created for Buckingham Palace.
After 173 years of receiving royal guests, Buckingham Palace opened its own café. From July 2010, in the café you can have tea, scones, sandwiches, cakes, meringues and even seafood salads to the 400,000 people who will come wandering through her home.
The Garden Café, to give it its proper name, will be operated by royal caterers Chester Boyd, who do all the Queen's garden parties. But those who would expect nothing less than bone china will be in for a disappointment. The special-issue blue plates and cups marked "Garden Café, Buckingham Palace" are cardboard.
Nuala McGourty, director of retail at Buckingham Palace, said* "the café expects less recycling than in other coffee shops, as customers are likely to smuggle out their cups, plates and even trays as souvenirs. "But if someone would like to take a cup home, then we're very happy to offer them an unused one,".
*Londyn Evening Standard / Tourists enjoy the ultimate British taste as Buckingham Palace opens new café
