A wet December evening gives this 2016 Roberts London film much of its atmosphere. The route begins around St James’s Park, passes through central London towards the Embankment, pauses inside Gordon’s Wine Bar and then returns to the Strand for its Christmas lights, The Savoy and the Coal Hole.

A rainy walk towards the Strand

Filmed on 12 December 2016, the video records London in the kind of weather that changes the appearance of the city. Pavements shine, passing traffic leaves trails of reflected colour and every illuminated doorway becomes more noticeable. Rather than treating the rain as an interruption, the film uses it as part of the night.

The opening section moves through St James’s Park and considers the pools of darkness that once separated London’s early gas lamps. The narration is interested in how people experienced the city before uniform electric lighting: a familiar street could change character completely after nightfall. In this archive film, the park remains deliberately dark while brighter streets wait beyond it.

Gordon’s Wine Bar near Embankment

The first major stop is Gordon’s Wine Bar, reached through Villiers Street near Embankment station. Gordon’s dates its establishment to 1890 and occupies rooms whose low ceilings, old walls and candlelit cellar have become inseparable from its identity. Even on a wet Monday evening, the entrance and passage outside are crowded.

Inside, the camera leaves the brightness of Villiers Street for the compact cellar. Tables sit close together, the walls carry layers of notices and memorabilia, and the movement of customers makes the room feel more like a long-established London institution than a carefully staged heritage interior.

The visit is brief: a small glass of red wine at the bar, followed by a look at the heated outdoor tables. The terrace is still full despite the rain, demonstrating how firmly Gordon’s had already become part of an evening around the Strand and Embankment.

The Strand under the 2016 Christmas lights

From Trafalgar Square, the Strand runs east towards Fleet Street, joining theatres, hotels, shops, restaurants and pubs along one of central London’s most familiar routes. In December 2016, white and blue decorations crossed the road above the traffic. Their cool light is especially effective here because the rain turns the road beneath them into a second, broken display.

The film is not simply a survey of Christmas installations. It records the street at walking pace, with buses, umbrellas and shopfronts sharing the frame. That everyday movement places the decorations within the working West End rather than presenting them as an isolated spectacle.

The Savoy entrance

The illuminated entrance to The Savoy provides the evening’s most theatrical view. The hotel opened in 1889 and helped establish a new standard of luxury in London. Its Strand court creates a recognisable threshold: traffic turns beneath the canopy while the hotel itself is held slightly back from the street.

In the rain, the canopy, lettering and waiting cars form a complete London night scene. It is also a useful archive record of the Strand before later changes to traffic, retail and hospitality altered the details around it.

The Coal Hole at the end of the walk

The final stop is the Coal Hole, a traditional pub a short distance east of The Savoy. Its elaborate frontage, red sign and Christmas greenery stand out against the wet stone and dark windows around it. The pub’s name and theatrical associations belong to the older entertainment history of this part of the Strand, where performers, audiences, hotels and drinking rooms have long existed side by side.

Inside, the film finds another crowded room. The atmosphere is brighter and more conventional than Gordon’s cellar, but it provides a natural conclusion: a London walk that began in a dark park ends in a busy pub beneath the Christmas lights.

Seen now, the film preserves more than a seasonal route. It captures the texture of central London on one particular rainy evening—its lamps, cellars, hotel entrances, pub interiors and the quiet pleasure of moving between them on foot.