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Christmas Dinner in London? that's not $500 for 4 people??


tkirving
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We will be arriving in London on Christmas day and can't seem to figure out if there are restaurants and/or pubs open. We don't need to eat at a 5 star restaurant that will cost a family of 4 over $500. I would love to hear any suggestions you might have... (including non-traditional christmas dinners)

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We will be arriving in London on Christmas day and can't seem to figure out if there are restaurants and/or pubs open. We don't need to eat at a 5 star restaurant that will cost a family of 4 over $500. I would love to hear any suggestions you might have... (including non-traditional christmas dinners)

 

Chinatown where you will meet many of the other Americans in London that day.

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London is crammed with ethnic restaurants: Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Thai, among many others from non Christian countries.

 

As a last resort, I have no doubt that the usual fast food places like Macky D and KFC will be open for business.

 

As said above, you may well have to rely on Shanks's Pony, so find one near to the hotel. If you really want to save money, go to a supermarket and make yourself a picnic. If you want 'special' go to Fortnum and Mason and get them to make you up a picnic to eat in your room. https://www.fortnumandmason.com/

 

Dinner for four, in a 'proper' restaurant in london, would likely cost more than $500 on a normal weekday.

Edited by Bob++
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Without knowing where you are staying it is difficult to advise. Many restaurants in Covent Garden open on Christmas Day. I think you will be hard pushed to find any time of restaurant offering lunch for four less than 100 USD. Although bear in mind we use GBP.

 

If you need to take a taxi they will charge double on Christmas Day and there is no public transport.

 

If you do a Google search you will find details of restaurants that are open.

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Wetherspoons are relatively reasonable out of London, not sure in.

 

https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/christmas/christmas-meals

 

According to the link the Wetherspoons festive menu is served from the 14th of November until the 22nd of December, it does not give the link for their menu for Christmas Day itself.

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Some 'chain' restaurants will be open - e.g. Bella Italia, a pretty ordinary Italian chain, has a Christmas Day menu at £44-95 and availability at their Leicester Square branch. Your location is pretty key to all this.

 

When looking online, please don't mistake 'Christmas menu' (probably available throughout December, except the 25th) for 'Christmas day menu', by the way.

 

You say you are arriving in London on Christmas Day - I hope you have factored in the transport issues?

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According to the link the Wetherspoons festive menu is served from the 14th of November until the 22nd of December, it does not give the link for their menu for Christmas Day itself.

 

And this from their Christmas 2016 FAQ page:

 

When do your pubs open on Christmas Day and is food available?

The majority of our pubs will be open on Christmas day; however, opening times may vary. With the exception of our pubs at Airports, we will not be serving food.

 

So discount Wetherspoons unless at an airport!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I agree with the others that you've got a bit of a pickle between transport and food costs. A proper meal in a restaurant (not pub) will set you back $100 per person, more on Christmas. You can probably prearrange a private car to take you from the airport to your hotel, or use Uber which should still be running. Make sure you have the app set up in advance in your phone, and understand they need to meet you in the short stay lot for your terminal, not at the curb.

 

You should also be able to use Uber to get to a restaurant. Many of the ethnic restaurants will be open, but won't offer a "traditional" Christmas meal.

 

I would use an app like OpenTable or Yelp to find something near your hotel.

 

I would also caution that whatever you think London will cost, add an extra 25-50%. It is the most expensive city we've ever visited, puts NYC and San Francisco to shame.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Christmas meal for $500 will be a good deal, very few places will be open, and those that are , will be pre booked only, no walk up and probably about 3x normal prices, ethnic restaurants will open but not a turkey Christmas meal on offer.

London on Christmas day will be a ghost town, especially as it's Sunday this year. No transport provided till the 27th, few shops, only small ethnic stores open, cabs rare and expensive and equally few mini cabs either. To get any service you will have to pay way over the odds. The problem is staff don't want to work, and/or can't get in .

More likely to find service at Heathrow, hotels here might provide food, but again pre-book. Only tourist location would be to go to a Christmas day service at famous church/ abbey/ cathedral!

I wish you well.

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I'm sure Le Belle Epoch will be open at the Sofitel LHR T5, but you will want to pre book and expect dinner to run $150 pp. that said, it might solve the problem of transport and hoping to find someplace open. The Savoy has what looks to be an exceptional Christmas dinner, but it is ££££ and must be pre booked. Tea at the Savoy would be an option, not a typical dinner but very filling and under $100 pp.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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No transport provided till the 27th ...
Where do you get this from? There's plenty of public transport on 26 December: see https://tfl.gov.uk/status-updates/major-works-and-events/boxing-day-2016.

 

But I agree with others. Without knowing where the OP is staying, and how they're going to get there from Heathrow, it's impossible to provide any advice.

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Sorry, meant to post no public transport till 26th, as a limited service on Boxing day.
I think that "limited" may give a misleading impression. It's basically a Sunday service with a slightly late start, subject to a number of specific closures due to planned work (which is not unlike many other Sundays).
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My DD her DH and their 3 teen to twenty sons will be in London on Christmas day. They would like to volunteer somewhere in the city that serves a meal to the needy. We all did this last Christmas here in Ohio and it was a wonderful way to spend the holiday.

 

I thought that the experts here might point me to what opportunities there may be in London that day so I can pass them on to her.

 

Thanks!

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My DD her DH and their 3 teen to twenty sons will be in London on Christmas day. They would like to volunteer somewhere in the city that serves a meal to the needy.
Crisis, the first in that list in the Londonist, is perhaps the best known one. Its own volunteering page is here: http://www.crisis.org.uk/pages/volunteer-for-crisis-at-christmas-in-london.html.

 

I haven't looked at all of the others, but I would say that despite Royal Holloway's location it is worth clicking through to the Royal Holloway page. While the institution itself is out in Surrey, many of the opportunities that it lists are not located in or confined to Surrey, so there may be some places there that are not on the Londonist's main list.

 

I would sound one note of caution, though. As I haven't done this, I don't know how rigorous these organisations' safeguarding checks are at Christmas. But I do know from personal experience that if you volunteer at non-Christmas times for a role which has direct contact with clients (eg serving a meal to them), many charities are now required to carry out a lot of checks, including a criminal records check (I can't remember whether it's the enhanced version) as well as giving training about safeguarding and just as importantly about personal safety. (It is sadly the case that many clients have psychiatric, psychological and/or behavioural problems.)

 

If your daughter and her family are not based in London but will only be visiting briefly, it's possible that there will be some hurdles in the way of a client-facing role, and it might be as well for them to make clear to the organisations they contact that they will only be visiting London briefly (if that is the case). That would help to ensure that if they find a spot to do this, they don't suffer a last-minute disappointment from what might seem like red tape because they've signed up for a role which they won't actually be able to qualify for.

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Royal Holloway, It's my alma mater, as our American friends would put it well technically back then it was Royal Holloway and Bedford New College but that's a bit of a mouthful.

I have fond memories of it and if they are doing work closer to London then that could work out well for geographically. I did have a housemate who worked with young offenders at Feltham.

Edited by Hatters cruiser
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