The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree

Norway has sent London a spruce every year since 1947 as thanks for wartime support, and it is lit in a small ceremony in early December with carols under it most evenings after that. It is a gift rather than a decoration, which is the reason it is deliberately plain.

Worth knowing

Free. The carol singing under it runs most evenings through December and is charity-organised, so the bucket is the point. The tree stays up until just before Twelfth Night.

Getting there

Charing Cross is on the corner of the square. St Martin-in-the-Fields, on the north east corner, runs its own carol services and candlelit concerts through December. The Westminster page has the rest of what is on nearby. Everything we list at this address is on the Trafalgar Square page.