This is a (fairly new) problem with tourists being tempted by the London tourism machine to visit around Christmas – lots of them don’t actually realise everything’s off and there’s fuck all to do for a full day, so it now means the only real option for entertainment is funnelling to key sites like this and wandering around.
I don’t remember it being like this a decade ago and think it maybe signals a shift in the amount of visitors who are staying over Christmas itself.
Absolutely glorious day here in London!
Ask for a refund
This is tourist rush
That is disgraceful.
By who?
By a non-Londoner
I thought it was normal to go to church and do other activities in cities
People keep repeating that same line and generally have very little experience of London on Christmas Day.
You always have tons of traffic before lunch, but I feel like tour buses is unexpected. I suppose people on holiday here for Christmas have to do something though.
Got to get there early to save a spot for the new year’s fireworks
Eh if they want to walk around in the cold, have at it. The rest of us are cosy inside lol
No congestion charge so those not celebrating Xmas are having a rare drive into central London.
If you look across the river at Victoria embankment, there’s not many people walking along there.
This is all just tourists.
I lived in Covent Garden during Lockdown. It was amazing. Quoting the B52s. “Livin in your own private idaho”. I rode my bike everywhere. No traffic. Saw the whole city in those months. Used to run w/o an asthma-pollution attack. Freaking awesome.
many years ago when I lived in one of the London boroughs, we would pile into a relative’s car and drive up on the venting of Christmas Day and wander around in the dark with no one around and enjoy the peace and lights. seems like that might be a thing of the past.
Cycled from Islington to Battersea at noon. From Seven Dials down through Westminster was super busy, but everywhere outside that was completely dead — as it should be!
I suppose the poor tourists have nothing to do today but gawk at Big Ben and try to find an open Pret.
Luckily you’re in hospital, so you won’t have to deal with the crowds. Get well soon
My aunt lives on the other side of London from the rest of the family (Kensington, Hackney) and she used to love coming and picking us up to spend time with them at Christmas cos she could get through the city in half an hour. This is late 90s early 00s. It’s so busy these days! Times change I guess.
Only during the pandemic and movies, there’s no such a thing as an empty London
are you at st.thomas hospital? who promised you, 28 days later?
I see the scammers are back on London Bridge…thought we cleared them out!?
I wanted to go for a sad lonely Christmas morning walk and saw my entire neighbourhood! A cafe was open with alfresco dining and the bloody pub was PACKED people were drinking tea and having pints. We used to be a Christian nation!
So were they
You and a bunch of other people. apparently. Merry Christmas anyway!
I cycled to Tower Bridge today and it was full of tourists. My plan was to go to Piccadilly Circus but I skipped it because the roads were full of cars and even the hop-on hop-off bus was running! Lots of coffee shops are open as well.
We still get tourists at Christmas, even those that are from London.
As Aussie tourists, me and my wife just did a 17km walk around London today, thought it might be quiet, but it was full of just tourists.
A lot of the trains are not running, everyone is trapped there.
I work shifts and it doesn’t matter what time of year.
Xmas day angers me immensely as traffic in Central London is insane as there’s zero public transport but free parking so every moron for miles around thinks it’s a great idea to DRIVE into Central London to do naff all.
For those who have to work it’s incredibly demoralising as it’s an utter arse to get in on top of not being able to spend it at home.
The only small saving grace is when I finish in the morning the roads should be completely empty.
Of all the things anyone could do on Xmas day, going into Central London can’t be high on the list…I couldn’t think of anything worse.
If you go out early it’s empty. We do a nice long walk with the dog on Christmas morning and Covent Garden, Trafalgar Sq etc. are all pretty empty at 8am. It’s lovely, particularly today with the weather being as good as it was.
Our eta at Putney is 7pm, are we fucked?
who promised you an empty London
I got stuck in traffic in Hackney…Traffic on Christmas Day! The church elders would be spinning in their graves.
Edgeware Road is mostly open as far as I remember from a few years ago. If you fancy grilled meats and shisha.
HELLO
We get A LOT of tourists here during Christmas
I mean it when I say this is a sign of the erosion of labour laws.
Yes, your local Tesco is shut. But the “very necessary” coffee shops and grimy pubs are not.
This is not busy for the touristic centre of London. Empty London is relative.
Promised? By whom?
Was it promised to you 3000 years ago?
I was also in Shoreditch and the old street area at around 2pm today, was packed and the traffic was as bad as ever. Was not as I expected! Walking down into Whitechapel surprising number of shops and cafes were open as well.
46 comments
Holy shit. I’m not leaving home today looks like.
At south bank? You must be joking 😂
You in hospital?
This is a (fairly new) problem with tourists being tempted by the London tourism machine to visit around Christmas – lots of them don’t actually realise everything’s off and there’s fuck all to do for a full day, so it now means the only real option for entertainment is funnelling to key sites like this and wandering around.
I don’t remember it being like this a decade ago and think it maybe signals a shift in the amount of visitors who are staying over Christmas itself.
Absolutely glorious day here in London!
Ask for a refund
This is tourist rush
That is disgraceful.
By who?
By a non-Londoner
I thought it was normal to go to church and do other activities in cities
People keep repeating that same line and generally have very little experience of London on Christmas Day.
You always have tons of traffic before lunch, but I feel like tour buses is unexpected. I suppose people on holiday here for Christmas have to do something though.
Got to get there early to save a spot for the new year’s fireworks
Eh if they want to walk around in the cold, have at it. The rest of us are cosy inside lol
No congestion charge so those not celebrating Xmas are having a rare drive into central London.
If you look across the river at Victoria embankment, there’s not many people walking along there.
This is all just tourists.
I lived in Covent Garden during Lockdown. It was amazing. Quoting the B52s. “Livin in your own private idaho”. I rode my bike everywhere. No traffic. Saw the whole city in those months. Used to run w/o an asthma-pollution attack. Freaking awesome.
many years ago when I lived in one of the London boroughs, we would pile into a relative’s car and drive up on the venting of Christmas Day and wander around in the dark with no one around and enjoy the peace and lights. seems like that might be a thing of the past.
Cycled from Islington to Battersea at noon. From Seven Dials down through Westminster was super busy, but everywhere outside that was completely dead — as it should be!
I suppose the poor tourists have nothing to do today but gawk at Big Ben and try to find an open Pret.
Luckily you’re in hospital, so you won’t have to deal with the crowds. Get well soon
My aunt lives on the other side of London from the rest of the family (Kensington, Hackney) and she used to love coming and picking us up to spend time with them at Christmas cos she could get through the city in half an hour. This is late 90s early 00s. It’s so busy these days! Times change I guess.
Only during the pandemic and movies, there’s no such a thing as an empty London
are you at st.thomas hospital? who promised you, 28 days later?
I see the scammers are back on London Bridge…thought we cleared them out!?
I wanted to go for a sad lonely Christmas morning walk and saw my entire neighbourhood! A cafe was open with alfresco dining and the bloody pub was PACKED people were drinking tea and having pints. We used to be a Christian nation!
So were they
You and a bunch of other people. apparently. Merry Christmas anyway!
I cycled to Tower Bridge today and it was full of tourists. My plan was to go to Piccadilly Circus but I skipped it because the roads were full of cars and even the hop-on hop-off bus was running! Lots of coffee shops are open as well.
We still get tourists at Christmas, even those that are from London.
As Aussie tourists, me and my wife just did a 17km walk around London today, thought it might be quiet, but it was full of just tourists.
A lot of the trains are not running, everyone is trapped there.
I work shifts and it doesn’t matter what time of year.
Xmas day angers me immensely as traffic in Central London is insane as there’s zero public transport but free parking so every moron for miles around thinks it’s a great idea to DRIVE into Central London to do naff all.
For those who have to work it’s incredibly demoralising as it’s an utter arse to get in on top of not being able to spend it at home.
The only small saving grace is when I finish in the morning the roads should be completely empty.
Of all the things anyone could do on Xmas day, going into Central London can’t be high on the list…I couldn’t think of anything worse.
If you go out early it’s empty. We do a nice long walk with the dog on Christmas morning and Covent Garden, Trafalgar Sq etc. are all pretty empty at 8am. It’s lovely, particularly today with the weather being as good as it was.
Our eta at Putney is 7pm, are we fucked?
who promised you an empty London
I got stuck in traffic in Hackney…Traffic on Christmas Day! The church elders would be spinning in their graves.
Edgeware Road is mostly open as far as I remember from a few years ago. If you fancy grilled meats and shisha.
HELLO
We get A LOT of tourists here during Christmas
I mean it when I say this is a sign of the erosion of labour laws.
Yes, your local Tesco is shut. But the “very necessary” coffee shops and grimy pubs are not.
This is not busy for the touristic centre of London. Empty London is relative.
Promised? By whom?
Was it promised to you 3000 years ago?
I was also in Shoreditch and the old street area at around 2pm today, was packed and the traffic was as bad as ever. Was not as I expected! Walking down into Whitechapel surprising number of shops and cafes were open as well.
You oncall? Lol
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