Christmassy Restaurants in London 2026 [15 Festive Places to Eat]

If you want a proper Christmassy meal on a December trip to London, the decorated dining rooms, riverside igloos, and fireside pubs below are worth planning around.

The catch is that the best of them are often booked up before most visitors have started thinking about Christmas dinner. The fireplace tables at Daphne’s go weeks ahead, Coppa Club’s igloos are gone within days of release, and a Christmas Day lunch anywhere central is usually full by the end of October.

This guide covers 15 Christmassy restaurants, pubs, bars and dinner experiences for the 2026 season, with festive party cruises, afternoon teas and Christmas Day options.

Each entry has the festive menu price, the address and how to book, and the table has the nearest step-free station. It sits alongside our guides to Christmas in London, Christmas afternoon tea in London, what is open on Christmas Day and festive cruises on the Thames.

Good to know: festive menus go on sale in September and October and run from mid-November to Christmas Eve. December weekend evenings sell first, and most places take a deposit or full payment at the time of booking.

TIP: There is no Tube, bus or train on Christmas Day, so lunch has to be somewhere you can walk to or reach by taxi. Our pick is the Christmas Day lunch cruise on the Thames: three courses on the river from Westminster Pier, from £175, and it usually sells out in October.

Christmassy restaurants in London at a glance

Venue	Area	What it is	From	Nearest step-free station
Coppa Club Tower Bridge	Tower Hill	Riverside igloos	£38.50 set menu (2025)	Tower Hill, 8 min
Daphne’s	South Kensington	Decorated dining room	Menu not yet out	Knightsbridge, 15 min
Clos Maggiore	Covent Garden	Conservatory restaurant	£34.50 weekday lunch	Tottenham Court Road, 10 min
Sketch	Mayfair	Afternoon tea	£95	Bond Street, 6 min
34 Mayfair	Mayfair	Decorated grill restaurant	Menu not yet out	Bond Street or Green Park, 10 min
Dalloway Terrace	Bloomsbury	Winter terrace	£75 tea (2025)	Tottenham Court Road, 2 min
The Ivy Chelsea Garden	Chelsea	Restaurant	£55 set menu	None close; bus 11, 19 or 22
Aviary	City	Rooftop igloos	£49 set menu	Moorgate or Liverpool Street, 5 min
The Churchill Arms	Kensington	Pub covered in trees	Pub prices	None close; bus 27, 28 or 52
The Mayflower	Rotherhithe	Riverside pub	£35 set menu	Canada Water, 15 min
The Holly Bush	Hampstead	Village pub	On request	None close
The George	Fitzrovia	Victorian pub	£55 set menu	Bond Street, 10 min
The Tokenhouse	City	City pub	£47 set menu	Moorgate, 1 min
Miracle on Russell Street	Covent Garden	Christmas cocktail bar	Drinks only	Tottenham Court Road, 10 min
The Great Christmas Feast	West Kensington	Dinner and a show	£150 ticket	Earl’s Court, 10 min
Christmas lunch party cruise	Westminster Pier	Three-course lunch cruise	£75	Westminster, 2 min
Christmas dinner party cruise	Tower Pier	Dinner cruise with a DJ	£86	Tower Hill, 5 min

The decorated dining rooms

These are the restaurants people cross London to photograph, and most are known for the food as well as the room. The fireplace and window tables go first.

1. Daphne’s, South Kensington

Daphne’s is an Italian restaurant on Draycott Avenue that hangs its ceiling with baubles and ribbons every December, in a different theme each year. Last year’s was called Silent Night. There are open fires, and we’d ask for a table beside one.

It opens at noon, and the first sitting is quiet, for seeing the room before it fills. The 2026 festive menu and any Christmas Day service had not been published by the end of September.

Where: 112 Draycott Avenue, SW3 3AE.

Booking: OpenTable or 020 7589 4257.

2. Clos Maggiore, Covent Garden

Clos Maggiore is a small French restaurant on King Street with a conservatory room at the back, where the ceiling is a canopy of blossom branches and lights and there is a fire in winter. Harden’s has named it London’s most romantic restaurant, and in December the conservatory is the room in the photographs, so request that one.

The festive set menu is £34.50 for two courses or £39.50 for three at weekday lunch, £42.50 or £49.50 at weekend lunch, and from £37.50 pre-theatre. Christmas Eve is a separate prepaid menu at £85 for three courses with a welcome drink, with sittings from noon to 8 pm. December bookings carry a deposit of £35 a head at lunch and £45 at dinner. Dress is smart casual.

Where: 33 King Street, WC2E 8JD.

Booking: closmaggiore.com.

3. Sketch, Mayfair

Sketch on Conduit Street is an 18th-century townhouse turned into several very different restaurants, and every winter the whole building is dressed for Christmas, from a themed passageway on the way in to the egg-shaped toilets upstairs. Last year’s theme was alpine and ran from 14 November to 5 January; the 2026 dates were not announced by the end of September. The pink Gallery room is where most visitors go, for afternoon tea.

Afternoon tea in the Gallery starts at £95, and the festive version was £115 last year. It is expensive for a tea, and reviews often mention the noise. If you want one place purely for the spectacle, this is it.

Where: 9 Conduit Street, W1S 2XG.

Booking: sketch.london, weeks ahead for December weekends.

4. 34 Mayfair, Grosvenor Square

34 Mayfair is a grill restaurant on the corner of Grosvenor Square. Its Christmas display is a ceiling of around 8,400 baubles over the bar, first seen in December 2019 and back every year since. The food is a proper British menu, which makes it the pick of this group for a couple who want the dinner as much as the decorations.

The 2026 decorations and festive menu had not been announced by the end of September.

Where: 34 Grosvenor Square, W1K 2HD.

Booking: 34-restaurant.co.uk or 020 3350 3434.

5. Dalloway Terrace, Bloomsbury

Dalloway Terrace is the covered, heated terrace of the Bloomsbury Hotel on Great Russell Street, two minutes from the British Museum. Each winter it is dressed with snow-covered trees, pine cones and lights, so it works as a lunch stop on a museum day as well as a dinner. The Coral Room, the hotel’s bar next door, is the place for a cocktail before or after.

The festive afternoon tea runs from mid-November (12 November to 4 January last season) and was £75 with a glass of champagne last year. The Coral Room’s own tea starts at £55. On Christmas Day, both rooms serve a six-course lunch with a pianist, £130 a head last year, and there is a festive brunch from Boxing Day to 5 January.

Where: The Bloomsbury Hotel, 16 to 22 Great Russell Street, WC1B 3NN.

Booking: dallowayterrace.com.

6. The Ivy Chelsea Garden, King’s Road

The Ivy Collection restaurants are the easy option. There are more than a dozen across London; they are all decorated from 4 November, and they take bookings months ahead without fuss.

The Chelsea Garden one on the King’s Road has the best frontage. Its Christmas set menu is £55 for two courses or £65 for three, from 4 November to 29 December, and the same menu runs at the other Ivy restaurants if one is nearer your hotel.

Where: 195 to 197 King’s Road, SW3 5EQ.

Booking: theivychelseagarden.com.

Igloos on the river and the rooftop

7. Coppa Club Tower Bridge

Coppa Club’s igloos are the best known in London and the ones most people want. A row of heated pods sits on the riverside terrace at Three Quays, looking across the Thames to Tower Bridge, the Shard and HMS Belfast, and each winter they are re-dressed with blankets, lights and a new theme.

Bookings are for two-hour slots and parties of four to eight. Dates are released a few months ahead, and the December ones go within days, so they are usually on sale and selling by October. Parties of three or fewer can sometimes book off-peak with a minimum spend of around £30 a head.

The 2025 festive menu was £38.50 for two courses or £44.50 for three, and Christmas Day was a four-course lunch at £95 with a glass of fizz; the 2026 menu had not been posted at the end of September. The all-day menu of pizzas, grills and sharing plates is served in the igloos too.

Where: 3 Three Quays Walk, Lower Thames Street, EC3R 6AH. Despite the name, it is not beside Tower Bridge; it is about 500 metres along the river, past the Tower of London.

Booking: coppaclub.co.uk/tower.

8. Aviary, Finsbury Square

Aviary is the rooftop bar and restaurant on the tenth floor of the Montcalm Royal London House, on the edge of the City. Its winter igloos have heaters and blankets, seat up to eight or ten, and look out over the towers of the Square Mile rather than the river. The season runs into the new year, so it is a good second choice when Coppa Club is full.

The 2026 festive menu is three courses for £49 off-peak or £59 at peak times in December, and Christmas Day lunch is £150. Igloos carry a minimum spend, quoted this year as £200 for two or three people or £50 a head for larger groups.

Where: 22 to 25 Finsbury Square, EC2A 1DX.

Booking: Aviary’s Christmas page.

Christmas in a London pub

Pub festive menus run from mid-November. Most pubs ask for a deposit and a pre-order for groups, and a weekday lunch is both cheaper and easier to book than a Saturday night.

9. The Churchill Arms, Kensington

The Churchill Arms on Kensington Church Street is the pub covered in Christmas trees, more than ninety of them, with lights strung between. The 2026 switch-on is on Thursday 12 November at 6 pm, and the trees stay up into January. Seeing it costs nothing, and the pavement opposite fills with people taking photographs from dusk onwards.

Inside it is a Fuller’s pub with a Thai restaurant in the conservatory at the back, which surprises first-time visitors, and the prices are pub prices rather than restaurant ones. There is no festive set menu, and the pub does not take bookings on the switch-on night.

Where: 119 Kensington Church Street, W8 7LN.

Booking: Book the Thai restaurant at churchillarmskensington.co.uk; the bar is walk-in.

10. The Mayflower, Rotherhithe

The Mayflower sits on the river at Rotherhithe, the ship’s home port before it sailed for America in 1620, and it still lays on a Thanksgiving dinner for American visitors. It is a low-beamed, candlelit pub with a deck over the water, and it does Christmas the traditional way.

The festive menu is £35 for two courses or £40 for three. Christmas Day runs as two sittings, at 1 pm and 3.30 pm, with a pre-order, and the pub asks for two weeks’ notice on festive bookings.

Where: 117 Rotherhithe Street, SE16 4NF.

Booking: mayflowerpub.co.uk.

11. The Holly Bush, Hampstead

The Holly Bush is a Georgian pub up a lane off Heath Street in Hampstead, with a real fire, panelled rooms and the feel of a village pub that happens to be on the Northern line. It publishes a Christmas dining menu and a Christmas Day menu, with prices on request. It works well with a winter walk on the Heath or the lights in Hampstead village, and it fills on a December Sunday.

Where: 22 Hollymount, NW3 6SG.

Booking: hollybushhampstead.co.uk or 020 7435 2892.

12. The George, Great Portland Street

The George is a restored Victorian pub a few minutes north of Oxford Circus, and the handiest of these for anyone shopping on Oxford Street or Regent Street. The festive season starts on 16 November, with set menus listed from £55 a head, and there is a Thanksgiving dinner on 26 November. It has closed on Christmas Day in past years.

Where: 55 Great Portland Street, W1W 7LQ.

Booking: thegeorge.london.

13. The Tokenhouse, Moorgate

The Tokenhouse is a City pub on Moorgate that decorates heavily and serves a three-course festive menu, listed at £47, on weekdays until 7.30 pm with a deposit to book. It is closed on Christmas Day and shuts at 6 pm on Christmas Eve, which is the City pattern, and it makes a good lunch on a day spent around Leadenhall Market and the Tower.

Where: 4 Moorgate, EC2R 6DA.

Booking: tokenhousemoorgate.co.uk.

A Christmas bar and a Christmas dinner show

14. Miracle on Russell Street, Covent Garden

Miracle is the American Christmas cocktail pop-up that has come to Covent Garden every winter for several years. For 2026, it has moved to a bigger two-storey site at 9 Russell Street and renamed itself after the street. Tinsel covers every surface, 1970s Santas line the walls, and cocktails such as the Christmapolitan are served in novelty mugs.

It runs from 9 November to 30 December in 90-minute sittings that sell out well ahead, with a few tables held for walk-ins each day. It is loud, and it suits a group of friends better than a quiet couple.

Where: 9 Russell Street, WC2B 5HZ.

Booking: Miracle’s booking page.

15. The Great Christmas Feast at The Lost Estate, West Kensington

The Great Christmas Feast is A Christmas Carol performed around you while you eat, in a Victorian-dressed hall in West Kensington. It lasts around three and a half hours, with a three-course dinner served between the acts, live music, and actors who involve the audience.

It runs from 6 November to 31 December 2026, with matinees and evenings. Tickets are £150 for a standard table, £195 for a private one and £235 for VIP, plus a £4.85 booking fee, with previews from 6 to 12 November at £136. The recommended minimum age is 13, and festive dress is encouraged.

Where: 7-9 Beaumont Avenue, W14 9LP.

Booking: christmasfeast.thelostestate.com.

Christmas party cruises on the Thames

If the group wants dinner and the lights in one booking, City Cruises runs two festive party cruises through December. Both sail the central stretch of the river with the riverside lit up; both are adults-only, and the lunch cruise seats people at tables of ten, so couples will share with other groups.

The Christmas lunch party cruise is the gentler of the two: three hours from Westminster Pier, boarding at 12.45 pm, with a welcome glass of fizz, a three-course festive lunch, tea and coffee, and a live singer. It is from £75 a head, or £79 from Thursday to Saturday, and runs from 27 November to 20 December.

The Christmas dinner party cruise is four hours from Tower Pier, boarding at 6.15 pm, with a welcome glass of fizz, half a bottle of wine each, three courses, and a DJ and dancing once the plates are cleared. It is from £86 a head over the same dates. The Friday and Saturday sailings go first, and the office party season means mid-December is fully booked.

Our Christmas cruises guide has the full list, including the Christmas Day sailings, the evening canapés cruise and the hop-on hop-off pass for daytime sightseeing.

Festive afternoon teas in London

A Christmas afternoon tea is the festive meal that fits most easily into a sightseeing day, and London has enough of them to need a guide of their own. Our Christmas afternoon tea in London guide covers 21 of them, from the Ritz and Claridge’s to the Snowman tea bus, with prices and dates for each.

The short version: The Library at County Hall for Big Ben through the window, the Strand Palace for value at £50 on a weekday, The Rubens for the Winter Wonderland theme opposite the Royal Mews, and TĪNG at the Shard for the view from 35 floors up. Sketch, above, is the one for spectacle.

For something smaller, The Chinoiserie at the Carlton Tower Jumeirah in Knightsbridge serves a festive hot chocolate with a tower of toppings under the hotel’s Christmas trees, £18 a head last year.

Christmas Day lunch in London

With no transport on 25 December, Christmas Day lunch is a hotel dining room, a pub, a cruise, or Chinatown, and whichever you choose needs to be within walking distance of your hotel or a pre-booked taxi away.

Most venues take full payment in advance, and many are booked up by the end of October. These are the Christmas Day lunches we would look at first, with the 2026 prices where published.

• The Christmas Day lunch cruise. Three courses on the river, boarding at Westminster Pier at 11.30 am for a three-and-a-quarter-hour sailing, from £175 a head, with the lit-up riverside doing the entertaining. Dates and prices for the Christmas Day lunch cruise are on the City Cruises site, and our Christmas cruises guide covers the other festive sailings.
• The English Grill at the Rubens, Victoria. Seven courses, with the last seating at 7 pm, at £325 a head or £162.50 for children under 12. The hotel’s Curry Room serves a Christmas Day menu at £60 to £70, paid in advance.
• Straits Kitchen at the Pan Pacific, Liverpool Street. A Singaporean and Malaysian Christmas Day lunch, £135 for adults and £65 for children last year.
• Cinnamon Kitchen, City and Battersea. Sharing starters and four courses of Indian cooking, £75 last year. Its sister restaurant, the Cinnamon Club in Westminster, charged £150.
• Aviary, Finsbury Square. Christmas Day lunch in a rooftop igloo at £150.
• Coppa Club Tower Bridge. Four courses with a glass of fizz, £95 last year.
• Dalloway Terrace and the Coral Room. Six courses with a pianist, £130 last year.
• Strand Palace, The Holly Bush and The Mayflower. All three publish a Christmas Day lunch, the Strand Palace and the Mayflower in two sittings; prices from the venues.

Our guide to what is open in London on Christmas Day covers church services, Chinatown restaurants, the pubs that open, and how taxis and airport transfers work on the day.

Booking a festive meal in London: what to know

A British festive menu means a set price for two or three courses, nearly always with roast turkey and all the trimmings as one of the mains and Christmas pudding as one of the desserts, and often a cracker and a paper hat on the table. Restaurants add a service charge to the bill as standard, usually 12.5 per cent, and print it on the menu.

A deposit or full prepayment is normal for December, particularly for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and pubs generally want a pre-order from parties of six or more. Cancellation windows are short. The same menu is easier to book and often cheaper at lunchtime from Monday to Thursday, and the decorated rooms are quieter then for photographs.

Christmas Eve winds down early. Many restaurants close mid-afternoon on 24 December and the City pubs shut by 6 pm, so an early lunch is the safer plan for that day.

For a cheaper night out, First Table lists London restaurants that give half-price food on the first sitting of the evening, for parties of up to six. The code UKTP10 gives you £3 of booking credit when you join, and in December an early table is often the only one left anyway.

The nearest step-free station for each venue is in the table above. Only a few of these venues publish anything about their own entrances and toilets, so where that matters, a phone call before booking is the only way to be sure. Our guide to getting around London covers buses and taxis, which are often the easier choice in December.

All our festive London guides

• Christmas in London 2026: the complete planning guide
• Events in London in December 2026
• Self-guided Christmas lights walk with map
• Christmas shopping in London
• Christmas afternoon tea in London: 21 festive options
• Christmas tours in London: lights, cruises and day trips
• Christmas cruises on the Thames
• What is open in London on Christmas Day
• New Year’s Eve in London

Would you like some help planning your festive trip? Our London Itinerary Planning Consultation is a 60-minute live call with us, and the Video Itinerary Review is a recorded walkthrough of your draft plan. Both fill up in the run-up to Christmas, so it is worth booking early.