London on Christmas Day

Chrsitmas Day in London is known for being nearly empty, and to see the city in that emptiness has been on my London list for a few years. I heard from someone that London on Christmas Day is getting a bit busier this year, but it's still very quiet compared to how it normally is. Public transportation (buses, trains) do not run on Christmas Day, and taxis are limited; this contributes to the lack of visitors. However, visitors can drive to the city or ride a bike. I had a drive around earlier this morning. Although London was not completely quiet, it was significantly quiet with the ability to drive from Marble Arch to Tower Bridge without traffic jams. It also only took thirty minutes to drive from home to Marble Arch; this journey would normally take longer due to traffic. There were a few other cars and tourists who had the same idea. No doubt that these others were also taking advantage of the city being so quiet.

Seeing normally over-crowded streets such as Oxford Street/Oxford Circus and Regent Street actually quiet was strange. The drive went down Oxford Street, Regents Street, and around Piccadilly Circus a couple of times. I went into Soho, past Seven Dials, down the Strand, around Trafalgar Square, past Holborn, into the City of London, and across Tower Bridge twice. The most amount of people that I saw were on Tower Bridge.

It was normally the same car or two in front of me, but driving around central London took minutes instead of hours, and I liked this. It allowed me to see London in a different light. While not completely quiet in some of my photographs, you can still get an idea of how quiet the city was on Christmas Day morning. Have a look below.

In total, I counted seven coffee shops or souvinir shops that were open for business. This was rare as I did travel a lot of ground. There are also a few places to get Christmas lunch, and I noted a couple of these places looked to be open as well, so tourists staying centrally could easily do a little bit of sight-seeing without the crowds and enjoy Christmas lunch. Happy holidays to all of my readers.