Practical
What is open in London on Christmas Day and bank holidays
On this page
The short answer
Christmas Day 2026 has no Tube, bus or train in London. Use taxis, Santander Cycles, rental e-scooters or coaches from Victoria Coach Station; large shops are closed by law, and the Congestion Charge and ULEZ are off.
Christmas Day 2026 is Friday 25 December. There is no Tube, no bus and no train in London that day. Taxis, Santander Cycles, rental e-scooters and coaches from Victoria Coach Station still run. Large shops are closed by law. The Congestion Charge and the ULEZ are both off.
Christmas Day 2026 at a glance
| On Friday 25 December 2026 | Open or running? |
|---|---|
| Tube, buses, DLR, Overground, Elizabeth line, trams | No |
| National Rail trains | No |
| Taxis and private hire | Yes (scarce and expensive, book ahead) |
| Santander Cycles and rental e-scooters | Yes |
| Coaches from Victoria Coach Station | Yes, check your operator’s timetable |
| Dial-a-Ride | Yes, registered members only |
| Shops over 280 m² | No, closed by law |
| Smaller shops, petrol stations, shops in stations and airports | Allowed to open; many do not |
| Pharmacies | Mostly closed, check the NHS finder first |
| 999, A&E and NHS 111 | Yes, as normal |
| Congestion Charge | Off, from 25 December to 1 January 2027 |
| ULEZ | Off on Christmas Day only |
Boxing Day falls on a Saturday in 2026, so the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. On Boxing Day itself, most train companies run no service at all.
London has one day a year when the transport network simply stops. Most people discover this the hard way, usually at about 10am on 25 December with a suitcase.
This is the guide to the closed days: what runs, what does not, and which closures are choices and which are law.
The single most important fact on this page. On Christmas Day there are no TfL bus, Tube or rail services at all. Not reduced. Not hourly. None. If you need to move on 25 December, you are walking, cycling, on a Santander Cycle, or in a taxi or private car — and cabs are scarce and expensive. Plan it in November, not on the day.
Christmas Day, 25 December
Transport: almost nothing. No Tube, no bus, no DLR, no Overground, no Elizabeth line, no National Rail. What still moves: taxis and private hire, Santander Cycles, rental e-scooters, coaches from Victoria Coach Station, and Dial-a-Ride for its registered members.
Large shops: closed by law. Under the Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004, a shop over 280 square metres must not open to customers on Christmas Day. It uses the same size rule as Sunday trading, and a large shop cannot choose to open. The same exemptions apply as on Sundays: shops in railway stations and airports, petrol stations, motorway service areas, and a registered pharmacy that sells only medicines may open. Whether they do is up to them.
What is still open: emergency services, hospital A&E, some petrol forecourts and small convenience stores, a handful of hotels and restaurants serving pre-booked meals. NHS 111 answers as usual.
Road charges are suspended. The ULEZ is off on Christmas Day only. The Congestion Charge is off from Christmas Day to the New Year’s Day bank holiday, inclusive. So Christmas Day is the one day both are off.
Practical consequence: if you must travel on 25 December, a car is the only reliable option, and the roads are the emptiest they will be all year.
Boxing Day, 26 December
Things restart, but partially.
- Reduced timetables across the network, with some routes closed
- No Elizabeth line (TfL, Christmas 2025 — the 2026 details come in December)
- Almost no National Rail trains. For 2026, National Rail says most train companies will run no service on Boxing Day, and a few will run a very limited one
- Large shops may open. In 2026 Boxing Day is a Saturday, so normal Saturday rules apply
Boxing Day is also one of the busiest shopping days of the year on a substantially reduced transport network. Allow far longer than you think.
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day
New Year’s Eve: TfL services, including the Tube, have run all night in recent years, apart from planned closures. Expect crowding, station closures around the centre for crowd control, and road closures near the river from late afternoon. TfL publishes the fares and closures for the night in December.
New Year’s Day: limited timetables across the network. It is a bank holiday, so shop rules apply.
The other bank holidays
Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, the two May holidays, the late-August holiday. These are far less disruptive, but two things consistently catch people out:
Large shops must close entirely on Easter Sunday. Not six hours — closed. Same rule family as Christmas Day.
Engineering work. Bank holiday weekends are when TfL and Network Rail do major closures, because passenger numbers drop. A bank holiday Monday is statistically one of the worse days to rely on a specific line. Check the status page before you travel, every time.
How to actually plan for the closed days
If you are travelling on 25 December: book a taxi weeks ahead, or arrange a lift, or accept a long walk. Airport transfers on Christmas Day are the classic disaster — there is no train at all, and coaches run to their own holiday timetable from Victoria Coach Station. Check your coach before you book the flight. See getting to and from London’s airports at night, then assume the rail options do not exist.
If you need medicine: pharmacies are mostly closed. Use the NHS pharmacy finder in advance, and order repeat prescriptions the week before. 111 works all day. Full detail in finding a 24-hour pharmacy.
If you need food: buy on 24 December. Small shops and forecourts are the only realistic fallback, and they know it.
If something breaks: emergency trades charge bank holiday rates, and Christmas Day is the top of that scale. Gas emergency 0800 111 999 and power cut 105 both run as normal and cost nothing. Our sister site covers what a callout should cost if a door or lock is involved.
The one-line version
Christmas Day: no Tube, bus or train; taxis, cycles and coaches only; large shops closed by law; road charges off. Boxing Day: reduced, almost no trains. New Year’s Eve: Tube all night in recent years. Every other bank holiday: watch for engineering work.
Sources
- TfL — Christmas and New Year 2025 services (what runs on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve)
- National Rail — Christmas and New Year 2026/27
- GOV.UK — bank holidays (Boxing Day substitute day, 28 December 2026)
- Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004, section 1 and the Sunday Trading Act 1994 exemptions
- TfL — Congestion Charge and TfL — ULEZ
- Sunday and holiday trading law: why the big supermarket shuts at 4pm on a Sunday
Checked 11 September 2026; Christmas Day 2026 table and sources checked 27 September 2026. TfL publishes each year’s exact timetables a few weeks before Christmas, so the TfL facts above come from Christmas 2025. Confirm before you travel.