This London café has bought a fleet of tea-serving robots for after lockdown

So you want to keep having afternoon tea, eh? Insist on sipping out of little china cups and tucking into inconveniently small sandwiches even in the new normal? Well, sure, you can, but only if you’re up for being served by robots.

London café chain Tea Terrace is planning to staff its venues with tea-serving robots post-lockdown. There’s seven humanoids on staff now, including one called Theresa Maybot, after the former PM. She goes around saying ‘breakfast means breakfast’, a truly restful and not-at-all-triggering vibe in these uncertain times.

The robots each cost £9,000-£15,000 and were purchased as a gimmick before lockdown. Now, though, they’ve found purpose in their previously meaningless robot lives – easing customers’ anxiety about being too near other people and helping the restaurants stick to social-distancing guidelines.

The plan is to send the ’bot squad out with food and to collect plates so that diners have less interaction with servers. A true coming together of man and machine.

Did you know the Dorchester is now delivering afternoon teas?

How to support your local restaurant during lockdown.