Every December, the same conversation happens in offices and friend groups across London: someone gets landed with "sorting the Christmas party", and the default answer is a restaurant booking or a roped-off corner of a pub with a set menu nobody remembers a week later. If you're planning this year's do and want something your group will actually talk about into January, here are the Christmas party ideas in London worth considering — and why we think a private guided brewery tour is one of the best options going. We've been running tours through Bermondsey's railway-arch taprooms since 2014, so this comes from years of hosting exactly this kind of group booking, not just a seasonal marketing push.
Why the usual Christmas party falls flat
The trouble with a standard set-menu do is that it's built around sitting still for three hours with people you already sit next to all year. Add a noisy shared restaurant, a rushed final order and a bill split thirteen ways, and it's easy to see why "the Christmas party" has a mixed reputation by the time mid-December rolls around. What works better is something with a bit of movement and a shared focus — an activity people would choose to do anyway, that happens to also get everyone talking, laughing and comparing notes as the group moves between stops.
Our pick: a private brewery tour Christmas party
We run a guided Bermondsey Beer Tasting Tour through independent taprooms in the railway arches of South East London — 2-3.5 hours, beer included, £49 per person on our public tour, meeting at Southwark Brewing Co, 46 Druid St. For Christmas parties, most groups book it as a private tour: your own guide, your own pace, and a route built around your numbers rather than fitted around other visitors. It's festive without being naff, gives colleagues or friends something genuinely interesting to talk about between rounds, and runs itself, so nobody on your side has to play events manager on the night. Prefer a seated finish? Add our Cheese, Meat & Beer Tour (£65pp, Saturdays 12-2:30pm) for a more relaxed, sit-down pairing session either before or after the walking tour.
What's actually included on the night
A private Christmas tour with us covers a guided walk between working taprooms in the railway arches around Druid Street and Maltby Street, with a Beer Sommelier talking your group through what's fermenting behind the bar at each stop and pouring tasters as you go. It's less "sit and listen" than most tours — there's a natural rhythm of walking, arriving somewhere warm and buzzing, tasting a couple of beers, hearing the story behind the brewery, then moving on before anyone gets restless. Beer is included in the ticket price, so there's no separate bar tab to split at the end of the night, and the whole thing is designed to run for 2-3.5 hours, which fits neatly either side of dinner or a bigger night out.
Christmas party ideas by group size
- Small teams and friend groups (6-15): a private tour with a single guide keeps things intimate and easy — everyone actually gets to chat with everyone else.
- Mid-size parties (15-30): we tailor the route and pacing so the group moves comfortably between taprooms without splitting up.
- Large office parties (30-60+): we split bigger bookings across multiple guides, so service at each stop stays quick and nobody's left waiting in the cold.
Whatever your headcount, tell us the numbers and we'll build a night that fits — see private & corporate tours for the details, or read how we do it for work groups in our team building ideas in London guide, which covers the same private-tour format from a different angle.
Book early — December sells out fast
December is our busiest month of the year, and Thursday and Friday evening slots for private groups sell out first, often weeks ahead of the date itself. If you're the one sorting the party this year, the single most useful thing you can do is book early rather than waiting for everyone's calendar to line up first — a rough headcount and a shortlist of two or three preferred dates is enough for us to start holding a slot for you. Leaving it until late November for a mid-December date usually means picking from whatever's left rather than what you actually wanted.
Christmas parties on a budget
Not every Christmas do needs a big spend. A straightforward group booking on our standard tour, at £49pp with beer included, compares well against a sit-down meal once you add starters, drinks and service charge separately — everything's wrapped into one clear per-head price with no surprise bar tab at the end of the night. For a bigger occasion or a client-facing event, adding the cheese, meat & beer tasting pushes the budget up but adds real polish. We're happy to work backwards from a per-head budget and suggest what fits, rather than steering you towards the most expensive option.
Office party or friends' night out?
The format works equally well for both, but the tone shifts a little. Office parties tend to book earlier in December and appreciate the invoicing and deposit options that make expensing straightforward — see our team building guide for more on how corporate bookings work. Friend-group Christmas nights out tend to book later, closer to the date, and often extend into the evening afterwards; if that's your plan, our birthday ideas in London guide has similar tips on planning a private tour around a bigger night out, since the two occasions overlap more than you'd think.
Gift vouchers for Secret Santa
If a full group booking isn't practical this year — maybe the diary's too tight, or you just want to say thank you to one person rather than organise a whole party — our gift vouchers are a good alternative. They're bought directly on our gift vouchers page, delivered instantly by email and never expire, so they work well as a Secret Santa present or a stand-out thank-you that doesn't need to be used before a deadline. We cover more gifting formats like this, including experience-day roundups, in our experience days in London guide.
Extend the night nearby
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- Shoreditch Pub Crawl — a good option if part of your group wants to carry the party on into the evening after the tour wraps up.
Make a weekend of it
If part of your group is travelling in for the party, it's worth building a bit more of the day around it rather than treating the tour as a standalone stop. Bermondsey and nearby Borough Market get genuinely festive in December, with market stalls, mulled wine and Christmas lights adding to the atmosphere — check the market's official site nearer the time for exactly what's running that week, since stalls and hours shift through the season. Our things to do in Bermondsey guide has more on the area if you want to arrive early or stay on afterwards, and the free self-guided heritage walk is a good low-key option for anyone in your group who fancies a wander before the party starts.
How to book a Christmas party
Tell us your headcount, preferred date and roughly what you're after via our private tours page, and we'll come back with a plan and a quote — usually within a working day. Corporate bookings can be invoiced, and we take deposits so you're not chasing individual colleagues or friends for cash in the run-up to Christmas. It's the same private-tour format we use year-round for birthdays, stag and hen parties and work socials, just with a festive date attached.