Running a small business doesn’t mean skipping the Christmas do. From a private house in Belgravia to an icing class in Notting Hill, here’s where to celebrate with your small team or the friends who also work for themselves, and how to turn it into a proper day out.
Not every Christmas do needs a dancefloor and a guest list of 100. If you run a small business, yours might be you, a couple of freelancers and the clients who kept you going this year. If you work alone, it might be the friends who’ve heard every update since January.
Last Christmas, two friends and I met up at the Fire Stables in Wimbledon Village. All three of us work for ourselves, so there was no office party to go to... so we made our own. It was lovely.
That’s the idea behind this list. These small Christmas party venues in London work for anything from a table for three to a private room for around 20. Some you can hire outright, and others you can simply book a table at. Each comes with an idea for making a day of it nearby, and not one of them involves Winter Wonderland (sorry, not sorry).
The Garden House, Belgravia
BEST FOR: A PRIVATE LUNCH TUCKED AWAY IN BELGRAVIATucked away in one of Belgravia’s private gardens, a few minutes’ walk from Victoria station, The Garden House makes a Christmas gathering feel less like a formal event and more like being invited into someone’s particularly beautiful London home.
Hire it exclusively and the whole house is yours, with a dining room for a long festive lunch and a garden-facing Club Lounge for drinks. The venue doesn’t provide its own catering, so you’ll bring in a caterer. The upside is that the menu is entirely your choice, from a sit-down lunch to cocktails and canapés.
Make a day of it: Belgravia switches on its Christmas lights every year, and Elizabeth Street and Motcomb Street are lovely for a wander past the dressed-up shop windows. If you need warming up, Peggy Porschen’s pink café on Ebury Street does cake and hot drinks.
Rules, Covent Garden
BEST FOR: A TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS DINNER IN LONDON’S OLDEST RESTAURANTRules has been on Maiden Lane since 1798, and at Christmas it looks every bit of it, dressed so traditionally you could be in an Edwardian country house. For a small team, its private Graham Greene Room seats up to 18 for dinner, which makes it the kind of place you’d take clients you want to impress.
Make a day of it: Skate at Somerset House, which opens a rink in its courtyard every winter, then walk down to Trafalgar Square to see the tree Norway has sent London every year since 1947. Carol singers perform at its base through December. Finish by candlelight in the vaulted cellars of Gordon’s Wine Bar on Villiers Street.
Roast, Borough Market
BEST FOR: A BRITISH CHRISTMAS ROAST IN BOROUGH MARKET’S FLORAL HALLRoast sits in the Floral Hall at Borough Market, a few minutes’ walk from London Bridge station, and its menu is seasonal British cooking, which at Christmas is exactly what you want. For a small team, its private room seats up to 10, giving you complete privacy without losing the Floral Hall setting.
Make a day of it: Browse Borough Market before you sit down, then walk along the river to Shakespeare’s Globe. Its indoor Sam Wanamaker Playhouse runs a winter season of plays lit entirely by candles, which is about as festive as theatre gets.
Biscuiteers School of Icing, Notting Hill
BEST FOR: A CHRISTMAS ICING CLASS FOR A SMALL TEAM IN NOTTING HILL
If you’d rather do something together than sit through three courses, book your group a private class at Biscuiteers’ School of Icing. A tutor teaches you the techniques as you decorate a tin of biscuits, and you choose the theme, so Christmas it is. Private classes take a minimum of four people, and everyone goes home with their own tin. If there are only two or three of you, its evening Icing Lates come with a glass of fizz.
Make a day of it: Afterwards, head to Kensington Church Street for a meal at Clarke’s, which chef Sally Clarke opened in 1984. Finish outside the Churchill Arms after dark, when the front of the pub disappears under Christmas trees and lights.
Tortello, Royal Lancaster London
BEST FOR: A LONG ITALIAN LUNCH OVERLOOKING HYDE PARKTortello sits inside Royal Lancaster London, looking out over the Italian Gardens in Hyde Park. The menu is regional Italian, built around handmade pasta, and the room has plenty of personality, from a hand-painted vineyard mural to a pistachio-green 1960s Fiat 500 parked inside.
Forget the formal festive dinner. This is Christmas the Italian way, with everyone around one table. It has its own street entrance, so it feels more like a neighbourhood trattoria than a hotel restaurant, and it’s open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.
If an afternoon suits you better than a long lunch, the hotel also serves a Christmas afternoon tea in its Hyde Café, which works well for two or three of you. Lancaster Gate is the nearest station.
Make a day of it: Walk off the pasta with a stroll through the Italian Gardens and on into Hyde Park. In December it’s dark by around four, so it’s one for a lunch booking rather than dinner.
Richmond Hill Hotel, Richmond
BEST FOR: AN UNHURRIED CHRISTMAS AFTERNOON ABOVE THE THAMESFew corners of London are as enchanting at Christmas as Richmond, with the park on the doorstep and handsome Georgian streets to wander. Perched at the top of Richmond Hill, the hotel is a lovely setting for a celebration that feels elegant without being stiff.
The Queen’s Room has large bay windows and plenty of natural light. The Stafford Room, on the second floor, has French windows opening onto a private balcony with views over the Thames. Expect seasonal menus and festive cocktails, think Mistletoe Manhattans and Candy Cane Negronis, and if lunch turns into a long afternoon, you can book a room and stay over.
Make a day of it: Start with a winter walk in Richmond Park, then head to Kew after dark for Christmas at Kew. The gardens’ light trail runs in the evenings from November into January, and Kew Gardens station is about 500m from Victoria Gate. Book ahead.
Fire Stables, Wimbledon Village
BEST FOR: A FESTIVE CATCH-UP WITH FRIENDS IN WIMBLEDON VILLAGEThis is where my friends and I celebrated last Christmas, and it’s the one I’d suggest if you work for yourself and want a proper catch-up rather than a party. It’s a gastropub on Church Road in Wimbledon Village, with a big bar and an open kitchen.
Make a day of it: The village is worth the trip on its own, with shops along the High Street and Wimbledon Common on the doorstep for a winter walk. Local businesses also run Christmas in the Village, a community day with a market, carols and a lights switch-on, so check the date if you’d like to time your visit.
Before you book: what to ask the venue
Is the price a hire fee or a minimum spend? A hire fee covers the space. A minimum spend is what your group has to spend on food and drink.
If you’re going all out and hiring a room, is catering included or do you need to bring your own?
When do they need final numbers, and what happens if a few people drop out?
How much is the deposit, and is any of it refundable?
If you work for yourself, nobody else is going to organise the Christmas do. So consider this your sign to message the people who got you through the year and book the table... before someone else does.