Eleven pubs and hotels around Canterbury and Whitstable open on Christmas Day 2026, from £54.99 at the Three Tuns to £165 at the Pig. Updated November 2026.
Eleven pubs, hotels and restaurants around Canterbury and Whitstable are open on Christmas Day 2026, and this guide puts their prices, deposits and booking deadlines in one place. The cheapest table in the city is at the Three Tuns on Watling Street (£54.99 for four courses), the Old Buttermarket by the cathedral gate is £88, and three Shepherd Neame houses, the Parrot, the Duke of Cumberland and the Marine Hotel, share a five-course menu at £110. Every entry was checked against the venue’s own site on 8 November 2026.
Christmas Day is a Friday this year. No trains run that day, so plan a lift, a taxi or a walk home; our Christmas train times page has the details. Almost every booking needs a deposit and a pre-order, and the first payment deadlines fall in late November. Prices are per adult unless we say otherwise.
Canterbury city centre
1. The Three Tuns, Watling Street
The Three Tuns is the Greene King pub on Watling Street, and the lowest Christmas Day price in the city. Its Christmas Day page offers four courses for £54.99: a smoked salmon and king prawn cocktail or cranberry-topped Brie wedges to start, a hand-carved turkey dinner with pigs in blankets or a surf and turf topped with king prawns, and a Baileys caramel brownie among the puddings, with meat-free choices on every course.
A £10 deposit for each adult and child secures the table.
Price Christmas Day 4 courses £54.99
Booking £10 deposit per adult and per child; for bookings made by 11 December, pre-order and full payment by 11 December, for later bookings by 18 December; after 18 December, phone the pub
Call 01227 458014
Address 24 Watling Street, CT1 2UD
Website greeneking.co.uk/pubs/kent/three-tuns/christmas/christmas-day
Listing Our listing
Good for lowest price in the city, vegetarian choices, beer garden, city centre
2. The Old Buttermarket, Burgate
The Old Buttermarket is the Nicholson’s pub facing the Christ Church Gate of the cathedral. Its Christmas Day menu is £88 for four courses and £50 for children’s three courses.
Starters include a king prawn and smoked salmon cocktail, chicken liver and brandy pâté and a spiced parsnip and sweet potato soup; mains are hand-carved turkey breast, an 8oz sirloin, pan-roasted salmon, slow-cooked pork belly or a vegan festive nut roast, then Christmas pudding, a chocolate truffle torte or the cheese board, with coffee and a mini mince pie. The pub says you can also drop in for “a Christmas Day pint”.
Price Christmas Day adults 4 courses £88, children 3 courses £50
Booking online through the pub's booking page
Call 01227 462170
Address 39 Burgate, CT1 2HW
Website nicholsonspubs.co.uk/restaurants/southeast/theoldbuttermarketcanterbury/menus/christmas-day-menu
Listing Our listing
Good for cathedral gate, children's Christmas menu, vegan main, drinks without dinner
3. The Parrot, Church Lane
CAMRA calls the Parrot the oldest pub in Canterbury, a 14th-century building with stone-flagged floors and open fires, and it is one of three Shepherd Neame houses in the district serving the brewery’s Christmas Day menu. It is five courses for £110, built around the brewery’s own beers: canapés of Iron Wharf-cured smoked salmon and Spitfire rarebit croquettes, starters such as grilled king scallops in the shell, mains of Larchwood Farm roast turkey, fillet of beef, herb-crusted lamb cutlets, pan-seared halibut or a smoked beetroot, tofu and chestnut Wellington, then a festive yule log.
Children have their own four-course menu at £60.
Price Christmas Day 5 courses £110; children 4 courses £60
Booking book with the pub
Call 01227 454170
Address 1-9 Church Lane, CT1 2AG
Website menus.tenkites.com/shepherdn/parrot
Listing Our listing
Good for oldest pub in the city, open fires, vegan main, children's Christmas menu
4. ABode Canterbury, High Street
ABode is the hotel at 30-33 High Street. Its festive dining page prices Christmas Day lunch at £135, from 1pm, and describes “a festive amuse-bouche paired with a perfectly chilled glass of Nyetimber, accompanied by a live pianist”, then a four-course menu, coffee and mince pies.
The terms are the strictest in this guide: a £25 non-refundable deposit, full payment four weeks before, which for Christmas Day means by 27 November, and food and drinks ordered in advance.
Open Christmas Day lunch from 1pm
Price Christmas Day lunch £135
Booking through OpenTable; £25 per person non-refundable deposit; full payment 4 weeks before; food and drink pre-ordered
Call 01227 766266
Address 30-33 High Street, CT1 2RX
Website abodecanterbury.co.uk/festive/dining
Good for hotel restaurant, glass of Nyetimber included, live pianist, city centre
Whitstable and Tankerton
5. Pearson’s Arms, Horsebridge Road
Pearson’s Arms is the weatherboarded pub and restaurant on Horsebridge Road, a few steps from the beach. Its Christmas page and Christmas Day 2026 menu set the lunch at £90 with a drink on arrival.
Starters are a prawn and crayfish cocktail, minted lamb croquettes or a chickpea stack; mains are roast turkey crown, honey and mustard glazed gammon or sirloin of beef from Jim’s Butchers served pink, all with the trimmings, or a fish pie or chestnut roast. Puddings are a chocolate yule log, the pub’s Christmas pudding with brandy custard, or a Kentish cheeseboard.
The bar stays open until 5pm.
Open Christmas Day bar 12pm to 5pm; restaurant 12pm to 3pm; Boxing Day bar 12pm to 8pm, restaurant 12pm to 5pm
Price Christmas Day set menu £90, drink on arrival included
Booking essential
Call 01227 773133
Address Horsebridge Road, CT5 1BT
Website pearsonsarmswhitstable.co.uk/christmas-2024
Listing Our listing
Good for by the beach, local butcher's beef, vegetarian main, open on Boxing Day
6. The Duke of Cumberland, High Street
The Duke of Cumberland is the Shepherd Neame pub with rooms at the top of Whitstable High Street, in a building its site dates to 1867. It serves the same five-course Christmas Day menu as the Parrot at £110, from the Spitfire rarebit croquettes to the yule log, with mains of roast turkey, fillet of beef, lamb cutlets, halibut or the vegan beetroot and chestnut Wellington.
The children’s Christmas Day menu is four courses for £60.
Price Christmas Day 5 courses £110; children 4 courses £60
Booking book with the pub
Call 01227 280617
Address 2 High Street, CT5 1BQ
Website menus.tenkites.com/shepherdn/dukeofcumberland
Listing Our listing
Good for rooms, vegan main, children's Christmas menu, town centre
7. The Marine Hotel, Tankerton
The Marine Hotel is the long Shepherd Neame hotel on Marine Parade, looking over the slopes to the sea at Tankerton. Its Christmas Day menu is the brewery’s five courses at £110, the same as at the Parrot and the Duke of Cumberland, and children eat four courses for £60.
Price Christmas Day 5 courses £110; children 4 courses £60
Booking book with the hotel
Call 01227 272672
Address 33 Marine Parade, Tankerton, CT5 2BE
Website menus.tenkites.com/shepherdn/marinehotel
Listing Our listing
Good for sea view, hotel rooms, vegan main, children's Christmas menu
Villages around the city
8. The Duke William, Ickham
The Duke William calls itself a “quintessential Kentish pub” with rooms, on The Street in Ickham, east of the city. Its Christmas page lists Christmas Day lunch at £90, with bookings between midday and 3pm: bubbles and canapés, a celeriac and Cox apple soup, a classic prawn cocktail among the starters, roast Norfolk turkey among the mains, and Christmas pudding fudge with the coffee.
A vegan Christmas Day menu is £85. A discretionary 12.5% gratuity is added to the bill.
Open Christmas Day bookings from 12pm to 3pm
Price Christmas Day £90, vegan Christmas Day £85
Booking £50 per person deposit and pre-order at least 14 days ahead; deposit non-refundable after 1 December; 12.5% discretionary gratuity
Call 01227 721308
Address The Street, Ickham, CT3 1QP
Website thedukewilliamickham.com/christmas
Listing Our listing
Good for village pub, vegan Christmas Day menu, rooms
9. The Red Lion Inn, Bridge
The Red Lion on Bridge High Street describes “British pub dining with a subtle French influence”. Its Christmas page says the restaurant opens from 12pm to 2.30pm on Christmas Day, “reservations only”, and the pub from 12pm to 3pm for drinks.
It does not publish a Christmas Day price: “Christmas Day dining is extremely popular and must be booked directly with the pub. Please call us to discuss availability and our Christmas Day menu.”
Open Christmas Day restaurant 12pm to 2.30pm, pub 12pm to 3pm for drinks
Price Christmas Day menu and price by phone
Booking by phone only
Call 01227 832213
Address 75 High Street, Bridge, CT4 5LB
Website redlionbridge.co.uk/christmas-party-menu
Listing Our listing
Good for village pub, drinks without dinner, carol singing on 17 December
10. The Pig at Bridge Place, Bridge
The Pig at Bridge Place is the hotel and restaurant on Bourne Park Road, south of the city. Its Christmas page sets a three-course Christmas Day lunch, starting with “Piggy Bits and a welcome Christmas tipple” and ending with coffee and a mince pie, at £165 an adult and £75 a child under 13.
The lunch “is currently only available to guests who are staying with us”; anyone else can join the waiting list on the hotel’s booking page.
Price Christmas Day £165 an adult, £75 a child under 13
Booking hotel guests only at present; non-residents can join the waiting list
Address Bourne Park Road, Bridge, CT4 5BH
Website thepighotel.com/at-bridge-place/christmas-and-new-year
Good for hotel restaurant, children's price, Christmas stays from 24 December
Already full
11. The Wheatsheaf, Swalecliffe
The Wheatsheaf is the Greene King pub on Herne Bay Road between Whitstable and Herne Bay. Its Christmas Day page now says the pub “is now fully booked for Christmas Day”.
Greene King’s booking terms say to phone the pub after 18 December for any last-minute tables.
Price Christmas Day (fully booked)
Address 74 Herne Bay Road, Swalecliffe, CT5 2LU
Website greeneking.co.uk/pubs/kent/wheatsheaf/christmas/christmas-day
Listing Our listing
Good for car park, between Whitstable and Herne Bay
How we chose
These are the pubs, hotels and restaurants in the Canterbury district that publish a Christmas Day 2026 menu or opening times on their own website. We found none in Herne Bay itself: the Hampton Inn’s festive menu runs to 23 December, and we will add any Herne Bay pub that publishes a Christmas Day menu. Several favourites close for the day, including the Corner House, Cosy Club and the Granville at Lower Hardres. Run a place that should be here, or spot something that has changed? Email newsdesk@canterburylive.co.uk. Taken a good photograph of any of these places? Email it to newsdesk@canterburylive.co.uk and we will add it with your name as the credit.
If Christmas Day is full, our Christmas dinner guide has the festive menus that run through December, and Sunday roast in Canterbury covers the rest of the year. For the season, see the Canterbury Christmas market, Christmas at Canterbury Cathedral, the Marlowe pantomime, ice rinks near Canterbury, walks near Canterbury for Boxing Day, what’s on in Canterbury this month and things to do in Canterbury, or browse Canterbury pubs and pubs in our directory.
Frequently asked questions
Which pubs in Canterbury are open on Christmas Day 2026?
In the city centre, the Three Tuns on Watling Street, the Old Buttermarket on Burgate and the Parrot on Church Lane all serve Christmas Day lunch, and ABode on the High Street has a Christmas Day lunch from 1pm. In Whitstable, Pearson’s Arms, the Duke of Cumberland and the Marine Hotel at Tankerton take bookings. Outside the city, the Duke William at Ickham and the Red Lion at Bridge open their restaurants, and the Pig at Bridge Place serves hotel guests. The Wheatsheaf at Swalecliffe is fully booked.
How much is Christmas Day lunch in Canterbury in 2026?
£54.99 for four courses at the Three Tuns, £88 at the Old Buttermarket, £90 at Pearson’s Arms and at the Duke William, £110 for five courses at the Parrot, the Duke of Cumberland and the Marine Hotel, £135 at ABode and £165 at the Pig at Bridge Place. The Red Lion at Bridge gives its price by phone.
Are there trains or buses on Christmas Day?
No trains run on Christmas Day, Friday 25 December 2026, so plan a lift, a taxi or a walk home. Our Christmas train times page has the details for Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.
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