London's luxury hotels charge up to £30 for a traditional English fry-up, Caterer can reveal.

In a survey of 18 of the capital's leading hotels, we found that a full English breakfast costs customers £24 a head on average. And at most of the hotels, breakfast was not included in the room rate.

The Ritz (£30) serves London's most expensive breakfast, with the Lanesborough and the Carlton Towers tying in second place at £28.

A spokeswoman for the Ritz justified the cost by the quality of the ingredients used.

"We source ingredients from the finest specialist suppliers across the British Isles, selected for their quality - bacon from Cumbria, kippers from Northumberland and specially commissioned jams," she said.

Geoffrey Gelardi, general manager at the Lanesborough, said: "I'm surprised that we're one of the most expensive hotels. But we're not known for being inexpensive and we serve a fabulous breakfast in one of London's nicest breakfast rooms - £28 is what we can get and we've never had complaints."

The Connaught (£26), the Dorchester (£25.50), the Mandarin Oriental, Baglioni (each £25) and the Berkeley (£24.75) also ranked in the top 10, with Claridge's, the Savoy, the Hilton Park Lane and the Landmark drawing in ninth position at £24.50.

British Hospitality Association deputy chief executive Martin Couchman said it was up to each hotel to establish their prices. "These are top London hotels and in relation to the room rates their breakfast prices are probably not out of proportion."

The cheapest breakfasts, and the only ones costing less than 20, were the Goring and the Soho Hotel at £18.50 and the Charlotte Street Hotel at £18.

Most of the hotels do not include breakfast in the room rates and guests find themselves having to pay extra if they choose to have breakfast at the hotel.

Couchman said: "The issue of whether breakfast should be included in a hotel's room rate or not has been ongoing for a long time. In rural areas breakfast is usually included in room rates as there's nowhere else to go; in cities it often isn't as guests may choose to go elsewhere and non-residents may use the hotel for breakfast."

By Kerstin Kühn

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