Pimento Tea Rooms

Despite being on Steep Hill, the city of Lincoln's tea room hub, Pimento tea room appears to be somewhat of a hidden gem, and not just because there's is only one sign outside to declare its presence. The place is not only a tea room, but also a shop for ladies wear, which means that from the outside it does indeed look like a shop. A bit confusing, even more so when entering the premises, but after a brief treasure hunt through the shop's different rooms (all on slightly different levels, not exactly wheelchair friendly), it is immediately clear when you do finally find the bit you are looking for.

The tea room is divided over two levels and looks exactly as you would expect a traditional tea room to look like with a variety of home-made cakes behind the glass counter, jars or different types of tea on the shelves and chalkboard signs advertising a variety of teas. And quite a variety of teas it is too. Prizes vary from about £2.- for a generous pot of English Breakfast to £3.30 for a brew from Pimento's “connoisseur teas” selection. I opted for one of the Earl Grey varieties called China Moon and decided to treat myself to a slice of summer fruits cake for another three pounds.

The order was brought to the table promptly by the exceptionally polite staff who also seem exactly how you would expect tea room staff expect to be. The menu of light bites features a range of small meals, all vegetarian. The cake, sadly was perfectly nice in essence, but sadly a bit on the dry side. Which makes you wonder how much time it actually spent behind that window. The tea however, was (dare I say it) close to perfection. Early Grey as you'd expect it to taste, but slightly sharper somehow. While sat there enjoying the newspapers and magazines from the rack on the wall and the soothing tones of Classic FM in the background it is very easy to forget that you are actually upstairs, at the back of a clothes shop. Quite an achievement, considering how much of a quest it is from the front to the actual tea room.

Pimento is a perfectly nice tea room which definitely meets expectations if you do not fancy something different and exciting but just want to enjoy a calm, traditional, almost stereotypical afternoon tea. The fact that it is in fact a vegetarian tea room may well make Pimento the “classic” tea room of choice for vegetarians, but the peaceful atmosphere, friendly staff and good quality brews mean that anyone can enjoy this tea room all the same.


Earl Grey China moon: £ 2.20
Summer fruits cake: £ 3.00



Pimento Fashions & Tea Rooms
26/27 Steep Hill
Lincoln LN2 1LU
01522 544 880
Open Daily 10am-5pm