London’s best alternative Christmas events

What’s more Christmassy than visiting Santa’s grotto? Going for a pint or two with the man in red in his favourite boozer, of course. Humbug, an immersive Christmas dive bar, allows you to do just that – and join Mr Claus in rounds of games, sing-a-longs, live performances, storytelling and more. It’s all threaded together with a mission to cheer a weary Santa up and help him rekindle his Christmas spirit. Humbug’s 2025 return will include a shrine to the queen of Christmas Mariah Carey, a beer can bowling alley, a grotto and cabaret from the venue’s regular cast. Saving the festive season never sounded so fun.

Curling has been growing in popularity in recent years, nudged on by its compelling showings at various Winter Olympics, and this pop-up outdoor arena in King’s Cross’s lovely shopping district Coal Drops Yard is now a mainstay of the area’s winter entertainment offering. It boasts six synthetic curling lanes, on which you can curl your heart out for 45 minutes before rewarding yourself with a tasty cocktail at the retro Italian après bar the Club Curling Lounge. 

Mischief Theatre are best known for their Fringe megahit The Play That Goes Wrong. Now, they're resurrecting the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, the inept am dram theatre company who are theoretically responsible for it, for a truly chaotic spin on festive theatrical tradition. It’s written by original Mischief members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, and should feature some very unscary ghosts and some mishaps that would make Dickens turn in his grave.

Adult panto supremos He’s Behind You! – aka Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper, aka the guys who did the Above the Stag panto back in the day – return to the Charing Cross Theatre for another year, this time with a ribald spin on Beauty and the Beast. This version is set in the wintry Scottish village of Lickmanochers, where pampered mummy’s boy Bertie finds himself imprisoned in the castle of a luxuriently hairy aristocrat. Matthew Baldwin will once again star as the dame in a show that’s strictly for over-18s only.