It is early October, and the first Christmas party enquiries have already started to arrive. That is not me being keen. It is the calendar. Christmas Day falls on a Friday this year, which leaves three Fridays in December for the office party: the 4th, the 11th and the 18th. Every company in London is fighting over the same three nights for the same venues, and the cars that go with them. If you are the person organising this year, here is how I plan a party night, and what is different about London this winter.
Three Fridays and a lot of Thursdays
When a December has only three Friday nights before Christmas, a lot of parties slide onto Thursdays, and some teams go earlier still, into the last week of November. In my experience the 18th is the night the whole city goes out at once, because it is the last working Friday before the break for most offices. If your party is on the 18th, book the car when you book the venue. If you have the choice, a Thursday or the first Friday is a calmer night on the roads and at the door.
Whatever night you pick, the times I need are simple: when the first guests should arrive, when the venue wants everyone out, and roughly how many people need taking home and in which directions. Everything else I can plan around.
Oxford Street is going car-free, and that changes the West End
This is the big change for this season. From Monday 26 October, the stretch of Oxford Street between Orchard Street, by Selfridges, and Great Portland Street starts to go traffic-free. Under the scheme Transport for London consulted on, that section closes not only to private cars and buses but to taxis and private hire vehicles too. Limited traffic will still be able to cross it on a handful of side streets, and Regent Street stays open.
For a party in Marylebone, Mayfair or Fitzrovia, that means two things. First, the old habit of being dropped right on Oxford Street is gone, so I will set you down on the nearest open side street instead, and tell you which one on the way. Second, the roads around the closed section will carry the traffic that used to use it, at exactly the time of year when the West End is at its busiest. I leave more margin for those journeys this year, not less, and I check the route on the day rather than trusting last year.
If your group is shopping before the party, the same applies. I wait nearby on an open street and collect you where the bags can go straight into the boot. I wrote more about the area in my guide to Soho and the West End.
The drop-off is easy, the pickup is the job
Getting a team to a party is straightforward. People arrive over an hour or so, in good spirits, and nobody minds a short walk. The end of the night is different. Everyone leaves in the same twenty minutes, it is usually cold and often raining, and the street outside the venue is full of people trying to find their car on an app.
That is why most of my December bookings are by the hour. I take you there, I stay close, and when you come out I am where I said I would be. I send the pickup point as a pin on your phone before you go in, because after a long evening every doorway on a London street looks the same. My hourly hire has a five-hour minimum in London, which for most parties covers the drive in, the evening itself and the drive home.
For a director or a client you are looking after, I can do the drop-off, wait, and take them home at whatever point they decide to leave, without anyone having to arrange it on the night. For a group, I can run the drops one after another, planned in a sensible order around the city, so the person who lives furthest out is not the one left waiting on the pavement.
What about the Night Tube
The Night Tube runs on Friday and Saturday nights on the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria and Windrush lines. For plenty of people that is a perfectly good way home, and I would never pretend otherwise. But it does not reach everyone, a Thursday party has no Night Tube at all, and there is a difference between sending a guest off to find a platform and putting them in a warm car outside the door. If you are responsible for a team, it is worth knowing who is getting home how before the night starts.
Congestion Charge and party hours
The Congestion Charge runs from 7am to 6pm on weekdays, and from noon to 6pm at weekends and on bank holidays. Most party evenings start after it has clocked off. If I am collecting a team from the office at five, it is a different story, and I have written separately about how I handle the Congestion Charge and the ULEZ. Either way, it goes into the fixed price you see before you book, not onto a bill afterwards. There is also no charge at all from Christmas Day to the New Year bank holiday inclusive.
The other December evenings
Not every December booking is an office party. Two of the big festive evenings in London open in November this year, and both are worth planning early.
Hyde Park Winter Wonderland opens on Thursday 19 November and runs to Sunday 3 January 2027, every day apart from Christmas Day. Entry is booked for a specific date and hourly arrival slot, with the last entry at 9.30pm and closing at 10pm, and once you are in you can stay as long as you like. That suits a car well: I drop you for your slot and collect you when you have had enough of the rides.
Christmas at Kew, the light trail at Kew Gardens, runs from 13 November to 3 January 2027, from 4.20pm to 10pm. This year there are two adult-only evenings, on Thursday 3 December and Wednesday 9 December, which make a good alternative to a restaurant for a small team or a couple of clients. Kew is a fair way out west, so it is exactly the kind of evening where having the car waiting saves a long journey home.
For families, the V-Class seats up to six with room for coats and shopping, and you can see the cars I drive before you decide. If you are flying out for Christmas, I cover airport transfers too.
How to book a party night
Send me the date, the venue, the time guests should arrive and the time the venue closes, how many people need the car, and roughly where everyone is going home to. If it is a corporate account, tell me who signs off the booking and I will keep it simple for them. I will come back with a fixed price, agreed up front, so there is nothing to sort out on the night.
The earlier you ask, the more of December I can give you, and in my experience the 18th goes first. There is a calendar of the season on klasschauffeur.events if you are still choosing a night. When you have a date, send me the details and I will plan the evening around your venue.
