16 December 2023
A wet December evening through central London, beginning with the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree and continuing through St James’s, Regent Street, Cecil Court, Covent Garden and the South Bank before ending with a quiet drink beneath Curzon Soho.
A Christmas evening without much of a plan
London at Christmas does not need much encouragement. By the middle of December, the centre of town is already bright, wet and crowded. The pavements are full, the pubs are fuller, and several thousand people are trying to photograph the same Christmas tree.
The plan for this particular evening was deliberately loose: begin in Trafalgar Square, see the Christmas tree switched on, walk through a few familiar parts of central London and eventually find a pub.
The weather was less cooperative. It rained, the wind picked up and the camera battery established a deadline of its own. What followed was not a comprehensive tour of Christmas in London, but a record of one evening moving through it.
The tree that gives the evening a purpose
The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is not merely another seasonal decoration. Since 1947, the people of Norway have presented London with a tree in gratitude for Britain’s support during the Second World War. Traditionally selected from the forests around Oslo, it is erected in the square and decorated with vertical strings of lights in the Norwegian manner.
Its importance lies as much in the gesture as in its appearance. London acquires larger, brighter and more elaborate Christmas displays every year, but this remains the tree with the clearest reason for being there.
In the film, the lighting ceremony provides the evening with its one fixed appointment. The countdown takes place in the rain, the lights come on and the crowd responds. Everything before and after it is improvised around that moment.
St James’s in the rain
From Trafalgar Square, the route continues towards Waterloo Place and the Christmas tree at St James’s.
This is the sort of setting in which London assembles its own photograph: the illuminated tree, the architecture of Waterloo Place, a red telephone box, an open-top bus and rain reflecting the lights back from the street.
A group arranging its photograph manages to fit almost all of these elements into a single frame. There is something quietly efficient about it. London has supplied the component parts; the visitors only need to stand in the correct place.
From there, the evening continues towards Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street. Piccadilly is crowded beneath the illuminated screens, while the familiar Regent Street lights stretch above the traffic. It is busy, expected and unmistakably central London at Christmas.
A necessary diversion through Cecil Court
Whenever I am moving through this part of town, I try to make Cecil Court part of the route.
The narrow pedestrian street connects Charing Cross Road with St Martin’s Lane, but it feels separate from both. Its windows contain old books, maps, prints, art and the sort of things that reward looking without requiring an immediate reason to buy.
Cecil Court was the Mozart family’s first London address in 1764 and is considered a strong contender for the place where the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his first symphony. It later became an important centre of the early British film trade, earning the name “Flicker Alley” as companies and film pioneers gathered there.
That history matters, but it is not the only reason to walk through. Cecil Court remains useful because it causes a change of pace. A few yards away, Leicester Square is built around crowds and spectacle. Cecil Court asks people to slow down and look into the windows.
At Christmas, that difference becomes even more noticeable.
The quiet side of Covent Garden
Covent Garden is operating at full capacity. The Piazza is crowded, the decorations are bright and almost every visitor appears to be photographing something.
Before making a circuit of the Market Building, the film steps through to the garden of St Paul’s Church.
The change is immediate.
St Paul’s was designed by Inigo Jones as part of the development of the Covent Garden square. Work began in 1631 and was completed in 1633. Its relationship with London’s theatrical community reaches back to the seventeenth century, giving it its familiar name, the Actors’ Church.
The church garden sits directly beside one of the busiest visitor destinations in London, but on this December evening it provides a brief interval from the Piazza. The surrounding noise recedes and there is room to stop.
It is not completely secret, particularly in summer when finding an empty seat can be difficult. Nevertheless, the garden demonstrates one of London’s more useful habits: a quiet place often survives immediately behind the busy one.
Returning to the Piazza means returning to the lights, the large Christmas tree and the oversized decorations suspended through the Market Building. The contrast with the church garden is almost theatrical.
Across the river and back again
The next decision is to cross to the South Bank.
The Southbank Centre’s 2023 Winter Market ran beside the Thames from early November until Boxing Day, with traditional market chalets, food, drinks and independent traders.
The film does not remain there for long.
From the river, the London Eye, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament are visible through the weather, but the Trafalgar Square tree is about to be switched on. The evening suddenly becomes a race back across central London.
The market food smells excellent. There is no time to stop.
That may be the most accurate part of the journey: London offering several worthwhile things at once, each in a different direction.
When the pub is full
After the tree lighting, the obvious conclusion is the pub.
The Chandos stands close to Trafalgar Square, but everyone else has reached the same conclusion. Upstairs is full, downstairs is full and the evening’s search for a pint continues towards Chinatown.
It is Christmas-party season. The pubs along the route are crowded, people are queueing to get inside, and others are standing outside in the rain with their drinks.
Eventually, the search reaches Curzon Soho.
The cinema has a visible bar at street level, but the more useful room is downstairs. The basement bar is quieter except immediately before a screening. It serves beer and pizza, and on this particular evening it provides something unavailable almost everywhere else nearby: somewhere to sit.
Calling it a hidden gem is usually a reliable way to ensure that somewhere does not remain hidden. Nevertheless, the basement bar felt like one of those London places that people can pass repeatedly without realising what is below them.
The crowded pubs had failed. The cinema bar saved the evening.
One wet evening in London
This film is not a definitive guide to Christmas in London. It does not cover every display, market, shop or seasonal attraction. It records something more specific: one wet evening, one loose route and several different versions of central London within walking distance of one another.
There is the ceremony of Trafalgar Square, the composed photograph at St James’s, the commercial spectacle of Regent Street, the windows of Cecil Court, the crowds in Covent Garden, the quiet church garden, the food stalls beside the Thames and the search for an unoccupied chair in Soho.
Christmas in London is rarely calm, and it does not always proceed according to plan.
That is part of the experience.
Words and film by Barry Roberts.
Archive note: Originally published as a Roberts London film on 16 December 2023. This Journal edition forms part of the Roberts London archive. Seasonal displays, businesses and visitor information shown in the film reflect London in December 2023.
