Experience Christmas in London
It’s a magical time of the year, when even the trains are decorated for the season
“So here it is, Merry Christmas / Everybody’s having fun Look to the future now / It’s only just begun …”
If there’s one chorus that heralds the start of the ho-ho-ho holiday season in London, it’s the ubiquitous playing of ’70s British rockers Slade’s perennial Christmas hit, Merry Xmas Everybody.
You’ll hear the time-honoured jingle jovially blasting out from many stores, restaurants and even — most ironically — in trendy nightclubs. But, fear not, that tune’s about all that’s on repeat: when it comes to England’s capital, celebrating Christmas is elevated to a sport that’s become more competitive every year.
To really get your fill of the festive spirit — and remove much of the hustle and bustle of the city — mainly ignore the Tube transit system and take the flaneur’s approach. Wrapped up snugly (of course), there’s nothing like really experiencing the historic city’s curves and higgledy-piggledy contours before coming up to its full twinkling glory by foot.
Over a few days — curving around hordes of ugly-“jumper”wearing workers revelling in their office parties and spilling out from pubs onto the street and steering clear of theatre latecomers darting past us — we feast on a most magical time in a city where even the train stations aren’t overlooked in the dressing-up department.
Starting at St. Pancras Station, the international hub in the north of the city, the vogue for adorning trees in suave floral blooms is writ large. Traditional twinkling lights, bah humbug: Thanks to the florist to Prince Charles (it holds his royal warrant), Moyses Stevens has plucked more than 15,000 pieces of flowers and foliage (including roses, amaryllis, dianthus, orchids, hydrangeas, anemones and pine cones) to handcraft a 14-metre holiday centrepiece. (OK, so the so-called Jingle Blooms is only half the size of the famous Rockefeller tree in New York City, but it has some serious petal power.)
Twenty minutes’ stroll down busy roads and past rows of glorious townhouses along with tucked-away green spots (don’t miss the old Bloomsbury cemetery in St Andrew’s Gardens), the real history of Christmases past is unwrapped.
A new exhibition at the Victorian London home of A Christmas Carol author, Charles Dickens, untangles the traditions from this 19th-century classic. There are the first images of Ebenezer Scrooge — thanks to the pencil sketches by John Leech for the first edition — and, tying in with the new film, the original costumes and props from The Man Who Invented Christmas starring Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens and Christopher Plummer.
For the festive season’s history with a particularly native flavour, swing over east to Hoxton and The Geffrye Museum. Designed to explore domestic life and housed in 18th-century almshouses built by the Ironmongers’ Company, it delves into 400 years of Christmases celebrated in locals’ homes. Whether it’s kissing under the mistletoe or hanging up stockings (although, thankfully, there’s no fighting over who does the dishes down the ages or mocking granny for falling asleep after too much sherry), the vignettes show off plenty of authentic Christmas parlour games, decorations, lamejoked crackers, feasts, music and lighting.
Bringing it all back into 2017 with a blitz of bling, it’s time to brave the hordes in nearby shoppingcentric, bus-heavy Oxford Street (thankfully due to be pedestrianized at the end of next year) to be wowed by its 300,000 sparkling LED lights and nearly 2,000 decorations of glittery balls, stars and Christmas trees for the NSPCC charity’s Light Up Christmas for Children.
Similarly the Spirit of Christmas angel theme stretches over Regent Street — both streets are home to just about all the consumer heavyweights: spy the buzziness of Hamleys’ 54,000-square-foot toy-store heaven, the mock Tudor of Liberty London as well as Selfridges and John Lewis department stores.
Toward the western end, take a dip down to the swish Art Deco Mayfair hotel Claridge’s in Brook Street where legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld has designed its seasonal tree. Hanging in all its upside-down glory, it’s a masterclass in Christmas glamour. (Don’t forget to nip inside to its fashioncentral Fumoir bar for a quick sharp’ner — British slang for a stiff drink that will certainly help you continue into the night.)
So, now with our internal fairy lights merrily flickering, we head into the night time that turns London into even more of a winter wonderland. Our next tour takes us past a whirl of theatrics: the window dressing of Fortnum & Mason’s — the renowned purveyors of fine food — on Piccadilly before dipping down through Trafalgar Square (time it wisely, and you’ll catch carol groups warbling for an hour beneath its Christmas tree — an annual present for 70 years from Norway for help in the Second World War) — and the Strand where even brighter lights adorn the store’s newly installed skating rink at Somerset House.
Hugged by 450-year-old history and Neoclassical walls (it’s previously home to the Duke of Somerset as well as the country’s public records for births and deaths, and, er, at one point the tax office), the Skate at Somerset House with Fortnum & Mason is just about the grandest place you’ll ever attempt an arabesque.
The mood lighting, the hot chocolate, the dazzling tree, the killer late nights (disco, hip-hop and grime are all due to take star turns with DJ takeovers during the next month) will all slake your thirst for the perfect wintry scene with some thoroughly modern trimmings. Or take your carving skills to the rink set up at the Tower of London — the home to centuries of executions and the distinctive red-and-black Yeoman Warders (otherwise known as Beefeaters, a moniker from the era when they were paid, in part, well, with beef ).
Of course, food is everything when it comes to a jolly old English Chrimbo and London does it well.
Renowned chef Skye Gyngell’s elegant Spring restaurant is next to the rink at Somerset House and just down the Strand at the tony Savoy Hotel, its famous afternoon tea now boasts a woody scent of Christmas in the Air by luxury perfumers Penhaligon’s for a Scents of Christmas Festive Afternoon Tea combined with brandy mousse, mulled pears and gingerbread.
Over at Victoria, opposite Buckingham Palace, you’ll find The Rubens Hotel where a Festive Royal Afternoon Tea will see not only a more traditional yule Christmas chocolate log on the menu but the Queen’s Jammy Dodger biscuit and mulled wine macarons.
A city this geared up for Christmas? Now, that’s guaranteed to make this the most wonderful downtime of the year…