Top 10 Best Things To Do In London In December 2026

Location: Level 4 of the Red Car Park, Brent Cross Shopping Centre, London NW4 3FP.

TeamSport pairs three electric indoor karting tracks with eight ten-pin bowling lanes, pool tables, arcade machines and live sport on the screens, which means one booking can absorb most of an afternoon without the group ever moving off the level.

Putting colleagues into karts is the quickest way to find out who has been quietly competitive all year, and that is why it holds up better as an end-of-year work outing than another sit-down meal.

The youngest drivers, aged 4 to 7 and between 1m and 1.4m tall, race on Mini Racers.

From age 8 up, beginners and family groups take the Starter Track before moving onto the main track, which is the quick one and usually where the afternoon ends up.

The venue takes corporate bookings, kids' parties, and stag and hen packages, which cover both ends of December: the team day in the week before Christmas, and the school holiday afternoon when the children have exhausted everything at home.

Food and drink are served on site alongside a bar, and there is free WiFi if the afternoon runs long.

Bookings and walk-ins are both accepted, though December weekends are the first slots to go, and the venue is wheelchair accessible with step-free access running throughout.

Location: Sia Beauty, Upper Mall 5, Outside, Prince Charles Dr, London NW4 3FP.

Sia Beauty is a salon inside the centre with a full nail bar at its core, offering manicures alongside threading, waxing and brow shaping, plus personalised consultations for anyone who is not certain what suits them.

A manicure and a brow shape before the work Christmas party takes most of the panic out of getting ready, and both can be dealt with in a single appointment.

Those consultations are worth booking if you are heading into your first party season or want a different look for the family photographs.

Walk-ins are welcome, and appointments can be made in advance, though salons across London hit their busiest fortnight in the run-up to Christmas, so midweek slots tend to be the ones still going.

➡️ You can book the appointment into the middle of a shopping trip. Everything is in the same centre, so you are not crossing London between the two.

December shopping involves a lot of standing about in the cold on the way in and out.

These four stops at Brent Cross are where to break the trip up:

Bakers and Baristas

Location: Lower Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Bakers and Baristas is a coffee shop with a bakery counter running alongside the drinks, and is a good spot if you want to properly sit down for a while in-between your Christmas shopping.

The cakes come in layers, the pastries are the flaky sort, and a hot chocolate with a slice of something is excuse enough to stop moving for twenty minutes.

The menu marks up its vegan and vegetarian choices, and there is step-free access throughout with assistance dogs welcome.

Krispy Kreme

Location: Lower Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Krispy Kreme is a doughnut counter dealing mainly in the glazed originals, with milkshakes on hand if you want something to drink alongside them.

A dozen to share is the easiest contribution anyone can make to an office morning or a school gathering.

This one is walk-in only, so treat it as a grab-and-go stop between shops, and there are vegan and vegetarian options on the counter.

LOLA's Cupcakes

Location: Upper Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FQ.

LOLA's is a cupcake bakery that operates as a full café at Brent Cross and not simply a takeaway counter, making this the largest site the brand runs anywhere in London.

The cupcake milkshakes are what keep younger children occupied while the adults get through a coffee.

It is halal certified with vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options, and there is a takeaway counter for anything you want to carry off.

Wenzel's

Location: Outside Brent Cross, Prince Charles Drive, NW4 3FP.

Wenzel's is a bakery that bakes through the day, with a counter covering sausage rolls, pastries, baguettes made by hand and sandwiches put together fresh.

Walk-in only and priced accordingly, it suits a family working through the shopping on a budget.

The bakery is Halal certified, with vegan and vegetarian options, free WiFi and a wheelchair accessible entrance.

The advantage of doing Christmas shopping at Brent Cross is that the difficult-to-please people on your list are covered in the same building as the easy ones, and the seven shops below handle almost all of it between them.

Anthropologie

Location: Upper Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Anthropologie sells clothing, homeware and gifts across one floor, running from dresses through to ceramics you would put out on display, with a candle and fragrance range broad enough to cover most budgets.

Whoever is hardest to buy for, this is usually where you find something for them.

Gift services are available in store, while click and collect or home delivery will save you carrying anything bulky around for the rest of the day.

Oliver Bonas

Location: A11-A12, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Clothing, homeware, jewellery, accessories and furniture all share the floor at Oliver Bonas, which puts it among the few shops here where you can finish several people on the list without moving.

The gifting ranges are sorted by recipient, and there are separate stocking filler and Secret Santa sections that take the guesswork out of the smaller presents.

Click and collect is available, along with changing rooms, free WiFi, a hearing loop and disabled access.

➡️ A Quiet Time runs for the first hour every Sunday morning, with noise and lighting kept down and staff on hand if anyone needs help.

That makes the start of a Sunday the calmest window to shop here with a child who finds a busy December shop floor difficult.

JD Sports

Location: Upper Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

JD Sports stocks trainers and streetwear from Nike, adidas and New Balance in adult and children's sizes, which covers teenagers, generally the most difficult part of any Christmas list.

Students get 10% off on production of a valid card, and click and collect is available if you would rather order ahead and pick up in store.

Lakeland

Location: Lower Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Lakeland sells kitchen equipment and household gadgets, running from everyday utensils through to things most people have never seen before, and every product carries a 3-year guarantee.

That guarantee takes some of the risk out of buying for someone whose taste you do not know especially well.

There is click and collect, home delivery, and a loyalty programme for anyone who shops here often.

MINISO

Location: Upper Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

MINISO is a variety store carrying plush toys, blind boxes, small beauty items, homeware and snacks, with Sanrio, Pokémon and Care Bears collabs that children tend to spot from the doorway.

It solves stocking fillers and the office Secret Santa in a single visit.

Seasonal events run in store through the year, and both the packaging and much of the range are designed to be reused.

Newbie

Location: Lower Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Newbie is a Swedish childrenswear label built around sustainability, covering new babies and younger children across clothing, accessories and homewares.

Sleepsuits come in organic cotton, and the everyday outfits, accessories and homewares are made to survive being passed down.

Gift wrapping costs nothing in store, and the shop takes back pre-loved Newbie pieces so they can be worn again.

Space NK

Location: Upper Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Space NK stocks premium beauty brands pulled from around the world, spanning skincare, make-up, fragrance and wellness.

Its staff will talk you through what suits a particular skin type, which counts for a lot when you are buying for somebody else.

The shop offers luxury gift options and in-store appointments, with click and collect and loyalty rewards on top.

Waterstones

Location: Upper Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Waterstones is a bookshop covering every age on your list at once, running from the bestseller table through to things nobody in the family has heard of.

Rotating promotions (half-price picks, Book of the Month, multibuys) keep the total down when you're buying several.

Gift services, loyalty rewards and click and collect all run in store, and the booksellers will find you something if you describe the person you're buying for.

In the week between Christmas and New Year, nobody wants to give up an hour to lunch.

These five are built for eating quickly and getting back to it:

Dolci Mono

Location: Prince Charles Dr, Brent Cross, London NW4 3FP.

Dolci Mono is a dessert parlour pulling flavours from Britain, France, Italy and Spain across ice cream, milkshakes, mocktails and puddings served hot, and it is those hot puddings that turn it into a December stop as much as a summer one.

Seating and a grab-and-go counter both operate, and the all-day menu accounts for children, and for gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian diners.

Auntie Anne's

Location: Lower Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Auntie Anne's is a pretzel counter baking on site through the day, serving them sweet, savoury or filled, with a lemonade or a slush to go alongside.

A warm pretzel is one of the few things you can eat while walking and carrying bags.

It is walk-in only, with kids' options on the menu alongside vegan and vegetarian choices.

Shake Shack

Location: Upper Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Shake Shack is a burger restaurant built on Angus beef patties, crinkle-cut fries and frozen custard, and it is the one entry in this section substantial enough to count as a proper sit-down meal.

The frozen custard tends to get ordered even by the people who said they were not having dessert.

Catering is offered for corporate groups, large groups and parties, which is useful when you are feeding a team.

Joe Delucci's Gelato

Location: Lower Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Joe Delucci's is a gelateria making Italian-style gelato, with thick milkshakes, smoothies and larger desserts sharing the same counter.

Gelato in December sounds wrong until you have spent two hours inside a well-heated shopping destination carrying four bags.

There are vegan and vegetarian scoops on the counter, and assistance dogs are welcome.

SushiDog

Location: Prince Charles Dr, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

SushiDog is a sushi counter building rolls, bowls and salads to order in front of you, and it is the lighter choice once everyone has been living on leftovers for three days.

Takeaway and seating are both available, with highchairs for younger children and step-free access throughout.

Location: 108a Boundary Road, St John's Wood, London NW8 0RH.

Ben Uri is a free art museum devoted to the Jewish, refugee and immigrant artists who came to Britain and shaped its visual culture from 1900 onwards, run across a ground floor gallery and a lower ground floor.

The space is genuinely small, so an hour covers it properly and you are never queuing behind anyone to get a look at something.

Around 440 artists are represented, drawn from 34 countries and covering the past 120 years.

Exhibitions change through the year and combine works held here with loans from other museums, and Frank Auerbach is among the names featured in the collection.

For anyone with a free weekday in the flat stretch before New Year, this is a calm way to spend a morning with no booking and no ticket involved.

➡️ The gallery opens midweek and not at weekends, and the exhibition programme changes through the year, so check the dates before you travel.

Location: Hornsey Road, Finsbury Park, London N19, and Stoke Newington Church Street, London N16.

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This one is a self-guided walk between the two Banksy works still standing in North London, both of them outdoors, free to look at and reachable on public transport.

Most of his London output has gone, painted over by councils, cut out of walls by owners or stolen outright, and the Camden pieces are among the ones that did not last.

The Finsbury Park one on Hornsey Road is the stronger of the pair.

Banksy sprayed a broad wash of bright green up a wall behind a cherry tree that had been cut back nearly to the trunk, then put a stencilled figure at ground level aiming what looks like a pressure hose at it.

The joke is that somebody has painted the tree's missing leaves back on for it.

Line yourself up correctly, and the branches and the paint read as one thing, though it doesn't land the way it did in March 2024.

The mural was splashed with white paint within days of appearing, and Islington Council and the building's owner have since added fencing and protective panels. December at least gives you the bare tree the illusion depends on.

Over in Stoke Newington, a second piece has held on to a wall on Church Street since the early 2000s.

It shows a royal family drawn as caricatures, waving down from a balcony the way they would at a palace appearance.

➡️ This is a good option for teenagers who have not left the sofa since Boxing Day, and it costs nothing beyond the travel.

Location: Hampstead, London NW3.

Hampstead Heath is a large expanse of woodland, meadow and open hill in North London, and the climb up Parliament Hill at its southern end delivers the best free view of the city skyline you will find anywhere.

December is when that view performs best, as warm weather blurs the far distance into a grey smudge while cold, clear winter air does the opposite, resolving buildings several miles off into actual detail.

From the top you can see St Paul's, the Shard, the Gherkin and the Palace of Westminster.

➡️ The view carries legal protection under the London View Management Framework, which restricts development that would obstruct it.

Location: Bankside, London SE1 9TG.

Tate Modern is a free national gallery of modern and contemporary art on the south bank of the Thames, with displays taking in Picasso, Yayoi Kusama and Matisse across paintings, sculpture and installations built at the scale of a room.

Free entry and a very large indoor building make it the obvious answer to a wet afternoon over the holidays, but Tate Modern is closed on 24, 25 and 26 December, so Boxing Day is out. It reopens on 27 December, closes early on 31 December, and is open as normal on 1 January (although do double-check on their website to be sure when the time comes!).

The Turbine Hall is the part children remember, being large enough that they can make noise in it without anyone minding, and below ground the Tanks are given over to live performance and video work.

Tate Draw hands younger visitors digital sketch pads and puts their drawings up on the wall, which buys the adults a genuine twenty minutes.

➡️Pro tip: Do not bring the shopping. Bags are checked on arrival, and anything larger than cabin bag size is not allowed into the building. Paid lockers are available on Level 0 of the Blavatnik Building, and they do not take cash.

Location: Primrose Hill, London NW1.

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Primrose Hill is a grassy park in North London with a short, steady climb up to a summit that opens out into one of the city's great skyline views, and December's early sunset means you can be at the top for the lights coming on without staying out late.

You finish just under 63 metres above sea level, at one of the six viewpoints in London that carry formal protection, with trees on the slope cut back on purpose to stop them growing into the sightline.

Winter is the season this hill is built for, because on a clear day you can pick out Hampstead away to the northeast and the low sun gives the skyline more definition than it ever manages in July.

A York stone edging at the top carries an inscription taken from William Blake, and further down the slope grows an oak known as Shakespeare's Tree.

Brent Cross covers most of a December day on its own.

Karting and bowling on one level, a salon appointment, seven shops that between them handle the entire Christmas list, and five places to eat without giving up an hour to it.

Everything else here is reachable by car or public transport in well under an hour, so a morning with us and an afternoon on Hampstead Heath fits comfortably into one day.

You can plan your visit to Brent Cross here to see how to reach us by car, taxi, train, bus or bike.

Our multi-storey car park is free all year round, and RAW Charging's points are there if you are driving an EV.