Christmas in London is never confined to one square or one shopping street. It spreads across bridges, markets, skating rinks, department-store windows and some of the capital’s grandest public spaces. This film follows that festive trail through central London, revisiting the places, displays and seasonal traditions that shaped Christmas in the city in 2019.
Trafalgar Square and the Golden Jubilee Bridge
The journey begins in Trafalgar Square, one of the natural meeting points for a Christmas walk through London. From here, the route passes the National Gallery and heads towards the Thames. The square’s openness makes it a useful contrast to the narrower, busier shopping streets that come later.
Crossing the Golden Jubilee Bridge gives a particularly cinematic view of London after dark. Street performers, commuters and visitors share the route, while the illuminated riverfront opens up on both sides.
Southbank Christmas Market and festive food
On the South Bank, the Christmas market brings together wooden chalets, lights, fairground attractions and plenty of food. It is less a single destination than a lively riverside passage, with people moving between the stalls and the permanent cultural landmarks.
Seasonal markets are often best experienced without too rigid a plan. A hot drink, a freshly cooked snack and a wander beneath the lights are enough to make the river feel distinctly festive.
Ice skating at Somerset House
Few London Christmas settings are as recognisable as the courtyard of Somerset House. The neoclassical architecture gives the skating rink a sense of occasion, while the large Christmas tree turns the courtyard into a complete festive scene.
Even for visitors who do not skate, it remains worth seeing. Watching from the edge offers the atmosphere without requiring a pair of skates, and the Strand location makes it easy to include on a wider central London route.
Covent Garden at Christmas
Covent Garden approaches Christmas with scale: an enormous tree, oversized decorations and shop displays designed for the setting. The piazza remains busy, yet its covered market buildings and pedestrian spaces make it one of the easiest festive areas to explore on foot.
The most interesting details are often inside and around the market rather than only beneath the main tree. Individual shops contribute their own displays, creating a sequence of smaller scenes around the grand centrepiece.
Regent Street and the West End lights
The illuminated angels above Regent Street have become a modern London Christmas landmark. Their scale only becomes apparent when seen suspended across the full width of the street, with buses and traffic passing beneath.
From Regent Street, the wider West End offers a mixture of traditional motifs and more contemporary light installations. The result changes from street to street, rewarding a route that leaves time for detours.
Broadgate Circle ice rink
Broadgate Circle offered a different kind of skating setting, surrounded by the architecture and working rhythm of the City. It demonstrates how London’s Christmas season reaches beyond the obvious West End destinations.
London’s Christmas shop windows
Department-store windows are temporary exhibitions in their own right. Selfridges traditionally takes the most theatrical approach, combining fashion, scenery and unexpected characters. In 2019, the displays included a particularly memorable zebra tableau.
Further west, Harrods turns its entire Knightsbridge façade into a field of lights. Fortnum & Mason takes another architectural approach, transforming the Piccadilly building into a giant advent calendar. Together, these displays show how differently London’s great stores interpret the same season.
A final return to the South Bank and Trafalgar Square
The route returns to the South Bank for the Rekorderlig Cider Lodge, one of the season’s temporary hospitality spaces. These pop-ups help make each London Christmas feel specific to its year, even when the larger traditions remain familiar.
Finally, the walk ends back at Trafalgar Square and its Christmas tree. Given annually by the people of Oslo, the tree connects the square’s present-day celebrations with a tradition dating from 1947. It is a fitting place to finish a wide-ranging tour of Christmas in London.
Watch the Christmas in London guide
This 2019 film records a Christmas journey through the capital as it appeared at the time. Displays and individual events change, but the route remains a useful way to understand how London’s markets, public spaces, shops and seasonal traditions fit together.
