N.B. On Christmas Day – and only on Christmas Day – the charge for this walk is £25 for adults, students, Super Adults (over 65s) and Loyalty Card holders. It’s £10 for children (8 – 15). Tinies go free.
Anything else? Yes, here’s Thrillers on Villiers, a very tasty podcast about why Jack’s Christmas Lights Walk starts where it does. Indulge yourself, whet your appetite: have a listen. This is London indeed!
London at Christmas. You can feel it as much as see it. The glow, the hum, the sparkle in the air.
On this walk, we’re chasing the magic – from the very first Christmas “lights” (the Strand, more than a century ago – lit not by electricity but by good old cooking oil!) all the way to the brand-new illuminations of Soho.
We’ll start on the Strand, where London’s love affair with festive glow first flickered into life. Then on to Trafalgar Square, where the great Norwegian spruce takes its stand from 4 December – the nation’s thank-you note in tree form. We’ll wind through St James’s Street (another tree, maybe even a glimpse of Father Christmas himself), past Piccadilly Circus to Sir Christopher Wren’s only church outside the City – yes, another tree!
We’ll pause at Fortnum & Mason, purveyor of Christmas to the Royal Family (where the hampers are as legendary as the price tags), tiptoe through the Burlington Arcade – no whistling, skipping, or dancing, thank you very much – and emerge blinking onto Bond Street, where the lights are as dazzling as the diamonds in De Beers’ window.
From there, it’s a blaze of glory – 300,000 lights on Oxford Street, Regent Street’s proud claim as home of London’s first electric Christmas lights, and finally, we finish with a flourish at Hamleys – the oldest toy shop in the world – before a festive finale in Soho, where this year’s lights are sparkling for the very first time.
Bring your Christmas spirit – and maybe your sunglasses. London’s going to shine.
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE GUIDING
Cronain –
Jack is an excellent guide, lively entertaining and wise, he managed the swarms of the West End with confidence and dexterity whilst imparting his enthusiasm for the subject!
Justin Whitmarsh –
If golf is “a good walk spoiled” then this is “a good walk made better by a great guide”! Long may he continue and hopefully add more to his repertoire outside the festive season.
Kelly La Velle –
Wonderful Xmas Lights tour with Jack! We have attended dozens of LW over the past 18 yrs and were delighted to find a new face in Jack’s Xmas Lights Tour. It was the perfect mix of history, architecture, fun facts and clever tips. Underneath the hilarious banter, Jack is a polished people manager and skillfully brought us to a highlight area with split second timing. Really impressive. He’s smart, funny, and great with people. What a find!
Mark Clifford –
Jack was fantastic. He was clever and witty, and had a lot of great stories to tell that went along with the lights. He was very attentive to each person in our group and had great strategies to navigate through all of the London foot traffic. I highly recommend Jack!
Diane Hughes –
Jack was an excellent walking guide. He has a sparkling wit and kept a good pace all the while giving us interesting nuggets of history and gossip. Thank you!
Denise Edley –
We went on this tour last night. Jack was a lovely, lively and interesting man.
He is a local man with fabulous knowledge and gave us the most interesting facts.
The tour was glorious to do on an evening at Christmas. Would do it all again.
Leah Budson –
Went last night – so much fun! Lots of interesting information & beautiful lights, including ones I would not have seen just walking around myself!
Noam Gavish –
We’ve been on the very first Christmas Lights walk and it was great. Jack was brilliant and had a lot of fun stories. He showed us great places for Christmas Lights. Jack is very energetic so make sure to bring your running shoes….
Jack is highly recommended and we hope to have the chance to take another walk with him next time.