It's A Wrap

Why on Earth would anyone go to a shopping mall to do their Christmas shopping when London is just up the road?

Seriously, I can never quite get my head around that mentality – London’s West End and Covent Garden not only house some of the finest shops in the world, but also lend the shopping experience a genuinely festive frisson.

I’ve visited the so-called Aladdin’s Caves of Cribbs Causeway outside Bristol and The Oracle and Broad Street Malls in Reading, and no, I haven’t appreciated the fact that I felt like I was shopping in a Tupperware lunchbox, sealed from the outside world.

I know spending a small fortune on family and friends can be depressing at the best of times, but to do it in a clinically sterile environment with only piped carols for comfort is hardly the answer.

Yes, the centre of London IS busy, and yes it can be a nightmare to find somewhere to park, but sometimes the adage is true – no pain, no gain. Right about now, the Big Smoke is positively blossoming into a winter wonderland (save for a heavy fall of snow).

For me, and I admit this is just my own personal bias, there’s nowhere better to throw oneself into the yuletide spirit of credit card Devil-may-care than Oxford Street, Regent Street, and Covent Garden.

Indeed, I was down there last weekend stocking up on some early gifts and the atmosphere was electric – the theatres were bustling, street vendors were selling roast chestnuts and Soho was as deliciously garish as always (some of the restaurants there are not only first-class eateries, period – but cheaper too than McDonalds).

If you’re really not in the mood for chatting to your wife or husband because they have more relatives than you, just watch the world amble by...

But be warned, when I was mindlessly window shopping, there was also a blue sky, bright sunshine and a refreshing chill to herald in the start of the Christmas shopping bonanza.

To make the experience extra special, you really should make a weekend of it and stay overnight. It’s worth remembering it's sometimes a false economy to stay in a cheap hotel – they’re normally located well out of the centre and can be horribly plain and grubby (even at more than £100 a night).

Better to try to stay somewhere that at least is central (if you have to travel for more than 30 minutes from the West End to get to your hotel, you might as well come home instead).

Don’t forget the Christmas lights. Right now, Oxford Street and Regent Street look fantastic, and from about 4pm onwards, the West End is enveloped in an old-fashioned feel-good blaze of radiance.

My weakness is Selfridges, possibly the greatest store in Great Britain (Harrods may have the ‘name’, but as a destination shopping experience it lacks flair).

Selfridges has the ‘wow’ factor and it’s easy, with all its restaurants, bistros and cafes, to spend the whole day within its walls.

If you’ve got kids, you’ll – or rather, they’ll – want to visit Hamleys, the toy emporium in Regent Street. It is fantastic but coming at lunchtime, when the world and his younger sister is also there, can be a bit of a trial. So put that first on your must-see list.

Plus, if you want to swagger a bit, or be a bit of a Del Boy, wander (no, make that promenade) along Bond Street (just off Oxford Street) and look knowingly at the diamonds in the windows of Cartier, Van Cleef and Tiffany & Co.

What does it matter that you can't afford a diamond waistcoated napkin ring (£4,000)? No-one else peering in the windows can either...

* lThe Mercer Street Hotel, 20 Mercer Street, Covent Garden, London. Call: 020 7836 4300 Log www. radissonedwardian.com/mercerstreet. One night luxury B&B from £250. However, watch for offers.

*Probably the best location in central London, and especially if you’re a theatre goer. Situated in the heart of the cobbled streets of Seven Dials, at the convergence of five picturesque streets, not only does its location look like a Christmas movie set, but inside it’s pretty swish too. Never have I lusted after a fire extinguisher as a decorative ornament, but here, even fire and safety it seems adheres to the golden rule of ‘style first’. And if I could squeezed it into my suitcase, I would have...

Stunning views and bedrooms that are chic, neat, intimate and...seductive. Oh, and surprisingly quiet too.

*Length of walk to first theatre – 12 seconds (Cambridge Theatre and its production of Matilda The Musical).

*Length of walk to Shaftesbury Avenue – 60 seconds (less if you don’t look in shop windows).

Not cheap but worth every penny.

Refreshingly friendly staff and a small but perfectly formed restaurant.

As of this week, my favourite hotel in London. And yes, I will be going back.