Christmas in Mayfair: The Streets, Arcades and Facades to See

Mayfair does Christmas door by door.

I spent several afternoons in Mayfair in the weeks before Christmas, with my camera and no plan. There is no one big set piece. Instead: a bow over a porch, a wreath around an estate agent's window, a feast laid out on the pavement.

This is my guide to Christmas in Mayfair, street by street, with the things that come back every year and the details from 2025. Nearly all of it is free, and seen from the pavement.

When Does Christmas Start in Mayfair?

In the first half of November. Burlington Arcade unveiled its 2025 decorations on 8 November, and the Bond Street lights were switched on in mid-November. The Connaught's tree went up on 20 November.

The Bond Street lights were first hung in 2021, and they are inspired by the Crown Jewels. Arches of gold and silver lights, hung with glowing pearls, cross the street like tiaras.

That same evening, South Molton Street, the pedestrian street between Brook Street and Oxford Street, was covered by a tunnel of blue arches decorated with stars.

By the last week of November almost every shop front is finished. That is the best time to go, before the December crowds, when the decorations are fresh and the streets are still quiet on a weekday afternoon.

Most of it stays up until the first week of January. In 2025–26 the Connaught tree stayed until 4 January.

My route runs from south to north-west. Start at Burlington Arcade on Piccadilly and cross to the Royal Arcade. Walk up New Bond Street, then turn west to Berkeley Square and Mount Street.

Finish on South Audley Street and Davies Street, a few minutes from Bond Street station. It is about two miles, and there is something to stop for on almost every corner.

The Connaught Christmas Tree

Every year the Connaught hotel asks an artist or designer to create its Christmas tree. It stands outside on Carlos Place, the cobbled square in front of the hotel, and the hotel keeps an archive of past trees.

In 2025 the tree was by the Swiss artist Urs Fischer. It was a 31-foot Nordmann fir hung with glowing spheres, each showing a face generated by AI, based on his 2022 work People.

Next to it is Silence, the water feature by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando, installed in 2011. Two trees stand in a shallow granite pool, and every 15 minutes a mist rises around them for 15 seconds.

Wait for the mist if you can. With the tree lit behind it, it is one of the calmest corners of Christmas in Mayfair.

What Does Burlington Arcade Do at Christmas?

Burlington Arcade opened on 20 March 1819, built for Lord George Cavendish to a design by Samuel Ware. It runs for 196 yards from Piccadilly to Burlington Gardens, with around 40 small shops under a glass roof.

It is patrolled by the Beadles, in top hats and long coats. The arcade says they are the nation's oldest police force. The rules of 1819 against whistling, running and rowdy behaviour still stand.

According to the arcade, only two people have ever been excused the whistling ban. One is Sir Paul McCartney. The other is a schoolboy called Jayden.

Every Christmas the arcade hangs a new theme from its ceiling. In 2025 it was the Twelve Days of Christmas, Burlington style. There was a partridge in a pear tree, French hens and geese a-laying, flying between the crystal chandeliers.

The Lords a-Leaping were a nod to the Beadles themselves, in red coats and mid-jump. Walk it slowly and look up: the best part of the arcade at Christmas is above the shop windows.

Inside, Ladurée has had a shop in the arcade since 2006, and its macaron towers look made for December. Across Old Bond Street, the smaller Royal Arcade of 1879 links Old Bond Street with Albemarle Street.

Its name is real: the shirtmaker H. W. Brettell, at number 12, made shirts for Queen Victoria in the early 1880s. At Christmas its entrance gets a wreath and garlands to match its pink and red front.

Mount Street and South Audley Street at Christmas in Mayfair

Almost all of them. This corner of Mayfair, around the Connaught, is where the decorations feel most personal.

Mount Street was rebuilt by the Grosvenor Estate at the end of the nineteenth century, in pink terracotta and red brick. The shops sit under tall Victorian gables and bay windows, so a garland or a bow looks at home here.

Behind it is Mount Street Gardens, a small park with benches under tall trees. It is a good place to sit for ten minutes between shops.

On South Audley Street, Purdey's Audley House is the grandest. The gunmaker moved in on 1 January 1883 and has held royal warrants since 1868. The royal coat of arms sits over the door, and at Christmas potted trees and wreaths frame the steps.

Across the road, Stefano Ricci at 56 South Audley Street frames each of its tall windows with a lit garland, and its balcony carries a row of window boxes filled with greenery.

A few doors along, at 64 South Audley Street, is Farm Shop. It is run by Artfarm, the hospitality side of the Hauser & Wirth art galleries, and it opened in December 2023. At Christmas two potted fir trees stand either side of its door.

Mount Street does bows. The Wetherell estate agency at 102 Mount Street wrapped its corner window in a garland and a huge red ribbon.

On Grosvenor Square, The Twenty Two, a hotel and members' club at number 22, tied a black bow the size of its porch across the front. A life-size nutcracker soldier stood guard on each side of the steps.

On Davies Street, Neill Strain Floral Couture turns its shopfront into a wall of red flowers, baubles and ribbons. A Christmas tree made of flowers stands by the door.

Why Is There a Feast Table Outside Hedonism Wines?

Hedonism Wines, at 3–7 Davies Street, opened in August 2012. Its founder is Evgeny Chichvarkin, and at launch it held about 4,500 wines and spirits over two floors.

When I passed on 20 December 2025, it had set a long Christmas table on the pavement outside. Red and white cloths, candelabras, fir branches, fruit, cakes and wooden wine boxes tied with red ribbon.

Neon signs in the windows said join the festive feast, and eat, drink, be merry. It is a shop window you can walk around.

Go inside too. The shop is as theatrical as its window, with bottles displayed like jewellery over two floors, and it is open until 9pm most days.

Which Mayfair Facades Are Worth a Detour at Christmas?

The big fashion houses on New Bond Street turn their whole buildings into decorations. In 2025 Cartier's front had its panther climbing a tower of red gift boxes.

Where New Bond Street meets Burlington Gardens, look for Elisabeth Frink's bronze Horse and Rider of 1974. It was moved here from Dover Street in 2018, and it stands by the entrance to the Royal Academy. In December 2025 a tall Christmas tree stood just behind it.

The Bond Street lights in 2025 had a Crown Jewels theme and were lit every day from 4pm until midnight. Walk the street after dark to see both the lights and the facades.

Chanel wrapped its building in a giant tweed bow with a pearl at the centre. I have written up the Bond Street Christmas displays in more detail, and there is more on the street itself in my guide to Bond Street.

On Berkeley Square, Annabel's dresses its front every Christmas. In 2025 it was based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, with a giant wardrobe opening onto a snowy scene. It was switched on on 19 November 2025, and it supported the Food From The Heart campaign.

On Dover Street, the Arts Club hangs a wreath in every window, and I keep a record of it in my guide to Christmas wreaths in London. For the lights, see the best Christmas lights in London.

Mayfair is one of eight Christmas area walks on this site. The nearest to it are St James's, just across Piccadilly, and Marylebone, north of Oxford Street.

Visiting Mayfair at Christmas: Practical Notes

📍 Where: Mayfair, W1. Start at Burlington Arcade on Piccadilly, walk up New Bond Street, then west to Berkeley Square, Mount Street, South Audley Street and Davies Street.

📅 Open days: Decorations go up in the first half of November and come down in the first week of January.

⏰ Opening: Burlington Arcade is open Monday to Friday 8am to 7pm, Saturday 9am to 7pm, and Sunday 11am to 6pm. Hedonism Wines is open Monday to Saturday 10am to 9pm, and Sunday 12pm to 6pm.

🎫 Admission: Free. Everything here is seen from the street or the arcades.

🚇 Getting there: Green Park for Burlington Arcade, and Bond Street (Elizabeth, Central and Jubilee lines) for Mount Street and Davies Street.

☕ Food: Farm Shop on South Audley Street has a café, and Ladurée is in Burlington Arcade.

⏳ How long: Two to three hours on foot.

📷 Best time: A weekday in late November, arriving around 3pm. You get the facades in daylight and the lights coming on after sunset, which is before 4pm in December.

🗺️ Nearby: Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly, Grosvenor Square, and Handel Hendrix House on Brook Street.

Of everything on this walk, the thing I wait for is the mist at Carlos Place. It rises around Tadao Ando's two trees every 15 minutes, for 15 seconds, with the Connaught tree lit behind it.

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All photos were taken by Ina/WithinLondon, unless stated otherwise.