Technically, for most of London’s grand public displays—think Oxford Street, Covent Garden, and the iconic Regent Street angels—the lights are switched off on Twelfth Night. That’s the evening of January 5th, or sometimes the 6th, depending on which religious calendar you follow. It’s a tradition rooted in the Christian festival of Epiphany, when the Three Kings arrived with their gifts.
But here’s the fun fact: the actual taking down of the lights—the removal of the bulbs, cables, and giant stars—can stretch on until mid-February. The official switch-off marks the end of the party, but the real work of de-rigging a city’s worth of incandescent joy takes weeks. So while your neighbours might judge you for a still-glowing tree on January 10th, London’s own Christmas lights are often still being packed away into council vans well into the month.
Your Neighbourhood vs. The West End
There’s a hilarious divide between commercial dazzle and domestic discretion. If you live in a London flat, your lease probably states that outdoor lights must come down by the first or second week of January, often tied to the council’s rubbish collection schedule for real trees. Meanwhile, the shops on Carnaby Street keep their neon reindeers glowing until January 6th at midnight, when the maintenance crew swaps Santa hats for tool belts.
For the average Londoner, the unofficial rule is: take them down when you feel the magic has turned to clutter. That moment usually arrives around the time you trip over a stray extension cord for the fifth time. The city’s public installations, meanwhile, follow a rigid, weather-dependent timetable—if it’s raining too hard, the lights stay up an extra day for safety reasons.
