If you want to go somewhere that can't fail to give even the most Grinchiest Londoner all the festive feels, these London restaurants and pubs really understood the assignment this Christmas.
Daphne's
Kensington - 112 Draycott Ave, London SW3 3AE
You can always rely on this Kensington restaurant to turn its lovely conservatory dining room into a festive dream with baubles galore. This year, the theme is a inspired by Botticelli’s Nativà Mistica and along with special dishes and a roaring fireplace to pump out seasonal heat, there's a raft of seasonal cocktails from Malfy Gin.
Follow on Instagram @daphneslondon.
Annabel's
Mayfair - 46 Berkeley Square, London W1J 5AT
This Mayfair club may only be open to private members, but anyone wandering through Berkeley Square gets to have a gander at one of the most eye popping Christmas makeovers that London can muster. This year the facade has been taken over by a hot air balloon which, we're told, symbolises coming together to rise over adversity. It's all intended to promote the Caring family's charity From The Heart which tackles child poverty, deforestation and domestic abuse, in the UK and Brazil.
Follow on Instagram @annabelsmayfair
Sushi Samba Covent Garden
Covent Garden - 35 The Market, London WC2E 8RF
The living ceiling at Sushi Samba's WC2 operation has been made super seasonal with the arrival of an enormous amount of giant metallic baubles (pity the poor person who had to put all those up.) The net result is a super-Instagrammable Christmas scene.
Follow on Instagram @sushisamba_ldn
The Churchill Arms
Kensington - 119 Kensington Church St, London W8 7LN
Why go with one paltry Christmas tree when you can strap almost a hundred to the outside of your pub instead and cover the whole thing with thousands of fairy lights? Very much of the 'more is more' school of design, this Kensington pub is an Instagram dream every Christmas and this year's installation is no exception.
Follow on Instagram @churchillarmsw8
Claridge's
Mayfair - Brook Street, London W1K 4HR
Always guaranteed to look incredibly festive, the Mayfair hotel this year has teamed up with Louis Vuitton for this year's tree. The tree/sculpture is actually 15 chrome trunks which form a tree silhouette and the whole thing is inside two of the company's Malles Vestiaire or ‘Wardrobe Trunks’. There's also plenty of more classic festive decoration in the hotel's Art Deco lobby if your tastes lean towards the traditional.
Follow on Instagram @claridgeshotel
Sketch
Mayfair - 9 Conduit St, London W1S 2XG
Sketch can always be relied upon to go all out for their Christmas installations and as part of their ‘A Surreal White Christmas’ they've turned to florist Ricky Paul to create a huge, spinning snow globe in their East Bar, set among their space age pods and featuring snow-capped trees surrounded by frosted pine and asparagus fern.
Follow on Instagram @sketchlondon
Fortnum's
Piccadilly - 181 Piccadilly, St. James's, London W1A 1ER
Whether you're popping in for a glass of wine or to do some serious food shopping in the run up to Christmas, Fortnum and Mason have taken things to the next level for their festive decorations. Their now annual transformation of the store's frontage into a XL Advent calender is quite literally traffic stopping judging by the number of tourists we saw getting beeped at for standing in the middle of Piccadilly to take selfies against it.
Follow on Instagram @fortnums
Hot Dinners at Christmas
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