Obviously St Paul's comes to mind but are there better, possibly less crowded options in Central London? I saw mention of St Martin-in-the-Fields in another thread for their concerts, which would be closer to where we're staying (Westminster) than St Paul's.
We'd be looking primarily for aesthetics and a good location so we're not taking too much out of our day traveling to and from mass, but avoiding crowds (likely impossible on Christmas Day) would be a bonus.
While I can't answer your question regarding churches, I wanted to mention that there is no public transportation on Christams day....no buses, no underground, no trams, no trains. Your choice will be a taxi, private car service or ride share like Uber. And they will not be cheap.
Well for a Mass you'd look for a catholic church which rules out St Pauls and St Martins in the Fields.
Try Westminster Cathedral (not the Abbey)
Where are you staying? And do you mean catholic mass, or Anglican communion?
agreed - saying "Westminster" opens a huge area. Can you please narrow down where you will be staying?
and which religious tradition you want
Apologies, grew up Catholic so used to using "Mass" but by no means does it need to be a Catholic church lol. Anything Christian will do. We're staying at The Guardsman.
From there you are a short walk from Westminster Abbey (Anglican) and Westminster Cathedral (Catholic).
St Martin in the Fields (Anglican) is slightly further but doable, as is the Chapel Royal in St James Palace (not sure whether they would have a service on Chritmas Day and there is nothing on the website.
Of those listed which would you recommend? A half hour or so walk wouldn't be a problem.
There are plenty of Anglican Churches of the high church persuasion who have Mass, I go to one each Sunday.
St Mary's, Bourne Street and All Saints, Margaret Street are the closest Anglo-Catholic ones I have (a lot of) personal experience of, where it will be sublimely beautiful Sung High Mass, but there will be others.
Bourne Street famously competes with the rumble of tube trains underneath! You get used to it. From an aesthetics Point of View Margaret Street wins down.
Very helpful thank you!
For where you are, I'd recommend Westminster Abbey or St Martin in the Fields. Have been to both a few times and loved both. For what it's worth, I'm a high church Anglican and I feel at home with the service style in Westminster Abbey, so if you were brought up as a Catholic it may also appeal.
We went to an evening service at Westminster Abbey on Dec 23 and it was beautiful. We had to get tickets months in advance. I don't know if you need tickets on Chrristmas Day.
One thought…with so many churches having livestream masses, you could look through the YouTube videos of the parishes within walking distance of your hotel to get an idea of the church architecture, music, and vibe. That may help with your decision should you decide to stick with a Catholic Church.
On tickets, yes they're required for some (not all) Christmas services at Westminster Abbey (but they are free).
Christmas Eve Midnight Mass (yes, Anglicans do indeed use the term 'mass') is usually the most popular.
In this case the OP has asked for "avoiding crowds" and "possibly less crowded options". If somewhere such as Westminster Abbey requires tickets then you are not, by definition, achieving those aims.
At Westminster RC Cathedral that is managed by adding additional masses.
I have very deep and fundamental theological problems with a requirement to have tickets (even free ones) to attend a religious service, let alone to scramble for them weeks ahead- in this case I gather 3 weeks before Advent has even started.
I'm far from certain that it isn't even against Canon Law.
As such it would be a real turn off for me to go to such a service, as I deeply don't consider it is matching the first and basic principles of a Church.
A Church is there for the pastoral requirements of everyone, pastoral requirements which are just as acute at Christmas as at any other time (maybe more so).
There are other solutions- as I say add extra services or open up St Margaret's (the sister Church to the Abbey) and stream the service in, or maybe other measures (stream it outside?).
A religious service is NOT a sports match, or a Taylor Swift concert- if you feel you have no option as a Church other than to ticket, either do that 24 hours beforehand or even on the door. Apart from anything else that might actually suppress demand- from those who don't want to queue.
Personally I prefer St Paul's worship to Westminster Abbey (but that is a personal thing)- at St Paul's I have actually been to services largely in Latin. At Margaret Street there was also one service (on the Wednesday of Holy Week) with significant segments in Greek. For anyone who attended such services were "a language understanded by the peoples".
At my own Parish Church we struggled deeply with the idea of ticketing for Christingle as demand way exceeded our fire certificate. We eventually decided to add a second Christingle service.
Even in Central London there are many other Parish Churches (real Parish Churches) beyond the two I have mentioned, and also Royal Peculiars. I don't know if the Peculiars all have Christmas Day services- but St Peter Ad Vincula in the Tower of London, the King's Chapel of the Savoy and the Guard's Chapel all spring to mind- all really interesting places in their own right. Yes the public can always attend services at all of them- at St Peter ad Vincula without Tower admission tickets. I guess they would have a service- there for the resident warders.
The Churches I have mentioned (and there are many others) are actual parish Churches with a proper resident Congregation.
Isn31c makes some really good points about actual parish churches (with their own congregations).
" I have very deep and fundamental theological problems with a requirement to have tickets (even free ones) to attend a religious service, let alone to scramble for them weeks ahead- in this case I gather 3 weeks before Advent has even started."
The ticketing requirement seems to change from year to year - a few years back I recall the Christmas Eve service was ticketed but the Christmas Day services were not. This year I gather not all the Christmas Day services will require a ticket - morning holy communion and evensong are not normally ticketed. Agreed it raises some theological issues though ticketing the sung eucharist. At my church we live stream to an overflow. They do use St Margaret's for the Christmas Eve lessons and carols (not ticketed) but not on Christmas Day.
A side issue, but for the OP i would agree it's worth considering some of the parish churches recommended.
Thank you all so much I've got some great options to look into! I concur with the idea of ticketed mass being a strange concept, so probably will avoid that, appreciate the heads up!
isn31c, I don't think anyone could argue about your point about the theological issues with ticketed church services. However, it is a way of controlling the size of crowds to maintain some level of respect and decorum. In 2021 my own church had 4 Easter services, ticketed to enable Covid-area distancing, and yes all four services preached by the same senior pastor! I do really love the intimacy of evensong services.
What is interesting is that I have just plugged in 'Westminster' to A Church Near You- the National website to find a Church of England Church.
And it has surprised even me to find that there are 73 Churches in what they deem to be Westminster- I would estimate 45 minutes walk or so of Westminster City Hall.
They will be of all levels of Churchmanship and ranging from the historic to the functional modern. It may be that not all will have a Christmas Day service. But rather than everyone crowding into Westminster Abbey there is truly scope there to explore other buildings, many of which are probably really interesting buildings. In fact many would welcome a few of the people who will end up at the Abbey.
OP a reminder that there is no public transport on Christmas Day. Given your location I’d locate a nearby church that you can easily walk to unless you wish to pay premium taxis/uber fares.
With that in mind and given you are staying at The Guardsman I’d consider; https://westminstercathedral.org.uk/ OR
https://stpetereatonsquare.co.uk/
I love Saint Martin in the Fields . I don’t know what their Christmas services are like, but their regular Sunday services are lovely, obviously with good music, also with good preaching, and the parish has a real commitment to social justice, which I find heartening.
