‘Tis the season to be jolly, ’tis the season when the West End of London pulls out the stops and prepares to dazzle the millions of shoppers who flock to Oxford Street and Regent Street to admire the Christmas lights.
So, if you are coming up to London to take our Jack the Ripper tour, then why not arrive a little bit earlier and take in the Christmas lights before venturing over to Aldgate East where our tour of the Whitechapel Murders sites begins at 7pm.
The Oxford Street lights are a little more festive than they’ve been in previous years and are themed around the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas.”

“On the first day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me….” etc.
The Carnaby Street light in years gone by have often been the best of the lights and they’ve come up with some imaginative themes such as Santa in Space.
This year, however, it being the Rolling Stones 50th anniversary and Carnaby Street being the centre of Swinging London in the 60’s, they’ve gone with a Rolling stones theme and visitors to Carnaby Street are greeted by the distinctive Stones logo of Mick Jagger’s lips and tongue!

The decorations also consist of gold discs from which Jagger and the other Rolling stones grin down at you from on high! It might not be that festive, but its certainly unusual.
Beneath the “Carnaby Street Christmas headline ti reads “It’s only Rock ‘n Roll.”
The big surprise is that Marmite have sponsored the Regent Street lights and, love it or hate it, the Marmite theme is very much in evidence as you stroll.
Meanwhile, the Fortnum and Mason window display tells the story of that perennial Christmas pantomime favourite, Dick Whittington.
The most seasonal street decorations are those along old Bond Street where the shop fronts are decorated in a more traditional style.
So, if you are coming up to London to join us on a Jack the Ripper walk and you want to see the Christmas lights first, the make your way to Bond Street Station, stroll along Oxford Street, when you arrive at Oxford Circus, turn right along Regent Street. Go left just before Liberty’s, then right in to Carnaby Street, walk its length and go right along Beak Street, then left along Regent Street, and walk to Piccadilly Circus.
Allow yourself a good 45 minutes to see the lights, and you should then get the full feel of the 2012 London Christmas lights.