The Regent Street Christmas lights in 2015 were part of an evening walk through the West End, from Piccadilly Circus to Hamleys, Liberty and Carnaby Street. With the shops lit up and the pavements full of people, there was plenty to see between each stop.
This film was published on 19 December 2015 as Vlogmas Day 19. The decorations, window displays and street scenes belong to that Christmas season.
Starting at Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus was the first main stop. In the original introduction to the film, I set out to see how Eros had been decorated that year before heading along Regent Street. The bright advertising screens and passing buses provided their own backdrop to the start of the walk.
This was a Christmas shopping walk with a camera: a chance to look at the streets as well as the shop windows. The film moves between pieces to camera and longer views of the lights, traffic and people passing through the West End.
Regent Street Christmas lights in 2015
Along Regent Street, strings of small lights crossed the road, with large circular decorations suspended between the buildings. The illuminated façades followed the curve of the street, while red buses and black cabs moved below.
The wide views show how much of the scene came from the street itself. Shop windows, headlights and the lighting on the buildings all contributed to the evening. Looking ahead along the curve gave a different impression from standing directly beneath one of the decorations.
For a comparison with the following year’s display, see my Regent Street Christmas lights film from 2016. Each article preserves its own year’s visit and decorations.
Hamleys and its festive windows
Hamleys was one of the shopfronts I stopped to film. Its red awnings and bright upper windows stood out above the busy pavement. At street level, the toy displays added another layer of colour to the walk.
The footage takes in the shop from outside, with people crossing in front of the windows and traffic passing close by. It captures the storefront as part of the Christmas street scene, including the bustle around it.
Liberty after dark
Next came Liberty and its window displays. The illuminated Liberty lettering and timber-framed frontage made a distinctive change from Regent Street’s pale façades. The camera follows the windows and the surrounding pavement before the walk continues towards Carnaby.
These are familiar shopping streets, but the sequence of different frontages gives the walk variety. A toy-shop window, a department-store entrance and a view up a decorated street each offer a different part of the Christmas scene.
Carnaby’s Christmas Party
Carnaby Street brought a much more colourful overhead display. A large illuminated disco ball hung above an arch reading “Carnaby Christmas Party”, with stars and further decorations stretching down the street.
The narrow street placed the lights directly above the shoppers. As the camera moved through the crowd, the decorations overlapped with the shop signs and the next illuminated display further ahead. Pink, purple and multicoloured panels gave this part of the walk its own character.
The final part of the film also takes in a covered courtyard, where strings of lights run around the upper balconies. It adds another enclosed view after the larger streets and busy junctions earlier in the evening.
Watch the original Christmas shopping walk
The full film follows the evening through Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street, Hamleys, Liberty and Carnaby. It is a record of London’s Christmas displays in 2015, with the everyday movement of buses, taxis and shoppers woven through the route.
