Christmas Shopping In London: Where To Shop, Eat And Stay For A Festive Escape

Forget squeezing Christmas shopping into an already frantic December. Nicola Campbell makes the case for heading to London and turning present buying into a rather lovely escape.

I have very fond memories of Christmas shopping on Oxford Street. I lived in London for 15 years, arriving straight from university and staying until my mid-thirties, and come December there was always something rather magical about it.

The lights overhead. The beautiful Christmas windows, particularly Selfridges and John Lewis. Shoppers bundled up, laden with bags. It was busy, chaotic and gloriously festive.

Now that I live in Scotland, I rather like the idea of making a trip of it. I’m a huge fan of the train. Bring the laptop if work is frantic, a book if it isn’t, or simply chat with chums all the way down. The journey becomes part of the treat.

Oxford Street isn’t simply somewhere to shop, it’s the reason for a trip to the Big Smoke. Christmas lists in hand, shopping interspersed with a long lunch and Champagne, dinner somewhere fabulous, then back to a lovely central hotel.

Ideal. I’m booked.

SHOP

Shopping bags down, eyes up: Oxford Street’s Christmas lights make a festive shopping trip in London worth stretching into the evening.

There was a time when Oxford Street started to look a little tired, but it feels exciting again. Selfridges and John Lewis remain the obvious anchors. Between beauty, fragrance, fashion, jewellery, food, homeware and tech, you could probably complete Christmas without leaving either.

Then there are the high-street flagships. Uniqlo for cashmere and winter staples, Flying Tiger for stocking fillers, while Zara and & Other Stories will inevitably tempt me into buying something for my own Christmas-night-out wardrobe. Well, I’m here now.

And for the home lover? IKEA City, particularly novel when, in my London heyday, the same building was Topshop, our Mecca.

Regent Street, Bond Street, Liberty, Soho and Covent Garden are all within strolling distance too.

LUNCH

Christmas shopping deserves a proper lunch break, and Berners Tavern’s spectacular dining room is reason enough to linger.

Berners Tavern
10 Berners Street, London W1T 3NP

Build in a proper lunch. Not a soggy meal deal eaten while holding three shopping bags. A table. Champagne. Time.

Berners Tavern, tucked just off Oxford Street, is perfect. The spectacular dining room is covered in artwork beneath enormous chandeliers, while the menu includes its Marmite tart, gloriously comforting mac and cheese and desserts worth abandoning the shopping schedule for. Outside may be peak Christmas Oxford Street. In here, nobody is rushing you.

DINNER

From shopping to sushi: Aqua Kyoto’s softly lit bar makes a tempting setting for the evening’s next chapter.

Aqua Kyoto
30 Argyll Street, London W1B 3BR

Finish at Aqua Kyoto, seconds from Oxford Circus. Sleek, glamorous and lively, it serves contemporary Japanese food, from sushi and sashimi to robata dishes, alongside cocktails and sake.

Exactly the sort of place where a quick post-shopping dinner could become cocktails and a considerably later night than planned.

STAY

Radisson Blu Hotel, London Bond Street
350 Oxford Street, London W1C 1BY

For a shopping trip, location wins. Radisson Blu sits on Oxford Street, opposite Bond Street station and moments from Selfridges.

When you’ve finally admitted you cannot physically carry another bag, retreat to your room. Drop the shopping. Put your feet up. Have one last glass of something.

No complicated Tube journey. No racing for the last train. Just the rather smug satisfaction of knowing most of Christmas is sorted.

We can buy almost anything online now, which is precisely why there’s something appealing about doing the opposite. Instead of making Christmas shopping another job to squeeze into December, make it the trip.

Take the girls. Walk beneath the lights. Look at the windows. Stop for Champagne. Shop far too much. Stay over.

I can’t remember most of the presents I bought on Oxford Street all those years ago. But I remember how it felt.