The traditional British Christmas dinner is the stuff of legend, featuring juicy roast turkey, glistening plum pudding, and the often maligned Brussels sprout. In the UK, a belly-busting festive dinner has been a central part of Christmas Day for centuries – and you might be surprised by how much has (and hasn't) changed over the decades. Here we step back in time to take a look at the plates of Christmases past, from the early 1800s to the present day.
Click or scroll through our gallery and feast your eyes on some of the oldest images of Christmas meals that exist today.
Up until the early 19th century, Christmas revelry would have been spread over the traditional Twelve Days – but by the 1840s, all of the feasting had been concentrated into one food and drink–filled day. The Victorians transformed the idea of Christmas into the modern holiday we celebrate today, with gift giving, decorations and a Christmas feast all part of the family fun. A typical Christmas dinner at this time included roast beef, game pies and turkey for the rich, and goose for the poor. Meanwhile, Queen Victoria is known to have enjoyed roast swan.
Henry VIII is the first known English king to have eaten turkey, but the bird didn’t enter the mainstream until Victorian times. Even then, it was something only the wealthier classes could afford – for everyone else, Christmas was all about goose. For working class Victorians, goose clubs were a popular way of saving money to buy a Christmas bird. Families would pay sixpence from their weekly wage packet for several weeks before the holiday. This illustration from 1853 depicts a throng of revellers picking up their fattened bird from a London pub on Christmas Eve.
Without an oven or stove, poorer Victorian families didn’t have the facilities to roast a whole goose in their own home, so it was traditional for them to take their birds to the local bakery to be cooked. This innovative side business is documented in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, where the Cratchit children go wild over the luxurious aromas of roast goose, sage and onion, coming from a nearby bakery.
It’s fair to say the Christmas period has been a pretty boozy affair throughout the ages in the UK, but the temperance movement sought to tone down the merry-making. Temperance was a social faction that campaigned against the recreational use and sale of alcohol, famously leading to prohibition in the USA from 1920 to 1933. It gained popularity during the early 19th century in the UK, but was particularly influential in the Victorian age, when drinks like Mason's Wine Essences (pictured in an advert from 1890) were touted as a booze-free tipple for Christmas.
This festive snap from 1900 offers a fascinating insight into the customs of ordinary people in the late Victorian period, from the handmade paper decorations hanging from the ceiling to the traditional tea being served up. The Victorians famously loved afternoon tea, and Christmas was an excuse to really go to town on the sweet treats. There are plenty of mouths to feed in this tightly packed family group, but luckily there are cakes, biscuits, tea, and an enormous pie set out for guests to devour.
The 1910s ushered in the First World War, and a time of hardship and scarcity for many. Soldiers serving on the front line made do with their rations, but some troops were able to sit down for a proper Christmas meal, complete with roast turkeys they'd likely plucked themselves. Here, female factory workers in London produce huge stores of Christmas puddings, ready to be sent out to British soldiers fighting in the conflict.
Post-war, family gatherings for Christmas dinner were more precious than ever. Here, a large family in the UK sits around the table after devouring a festive meal in 1919. You can spot a dainty tea set, sweet pastries and a large Christmas cake taking pride of place in the centre of the spread.
By the interwar period, turkey was becoming slightly more affordable and – for those with the money – had replaced goose as the centrepiece of choice, usually served with bread sauce and root vegetables. In this snap from 1923, plucked birds hang from the roof of a London tavern for shoppers to choose from. Although the bird was no longer reserved exclusively for the upper classes, a turkey still would have cost an average person around a week’s wages to buy.
For some, sweet accompaniments and the Christmas tea were – and still are – as important as the dinner itself. This nostalgic 1920s snap shows a family donning festive paper hats and feasting on a post-dinner extravaganza of tea and cakes. On the table you can see already-pulled Christmas crackers; their invention is credited to a Victorian confectioner named Tom Smith, who began selling an early form of them in the 1840s.
Christmas pudding has been a festive staple for centuries, and a lot of this has to do with the fact that it was accessible to most classes. Unlike turkey, the ingredients used to make figgy pudding (sugar, dried fruits, citrus peel, brandy and spices) were affordable treats for many, especially in the 1920s. At this time there was a real trend for hotels and restaurants to create super-sized puddings to celebrate Christmas – this humorous photo shows young chefs at The Berkeley Hotel in London parading a 1.8m (6ft) Christmas pudding through the dining room.
The early 20th century was a golden age for ocean liner travel, offering those who could afford it a fantasy world of luxury as they swept across the Atlantic. Liners were put into service as troopships during the Second World War – so when it was over, the big shipping companies competed to make their vessels as opulent as possible, and created more capacity for second and third-class travellers. In this photo from December 1923, chefs on the Cunard liner Aquitania present a lavish display of Christmas treats, including ornate pies, roasted meats and a giant cake in the shape of the vessel.
Elaborately decorated boars' heads dominated the festive dining tables of royals and the upper classes in medieval times, and their popularity continued into the 20th century at some swish venues. Here, a chef at The Savoy Hotel in London adorns a pair of boars' heads ready to be presented to well-heeled festive diners in the 1920s. The late Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas table is said to have featured a boar's head, too.
Early 20th-century butchers' shops were not for the faint hearted. In a tradition that dates back to the Victorian era, butchers would compete to put on ever more elaborate displays featuring festive birds at Christmas. This incredible snap from 1939 shows a poulterer's shop in High Wycombe, with turkeys, chickens and game birds covering practically every inch of the shopfront.
The 1930s are often classed as a golden age for rail travel and, for those who could afford it, a festive lunch onboard a train was a delightful Christmas treat. Here, passengers don festive hats and finery and tuck into pastry treats while travelling on a London, Midland and Scottish Railway train in 1935.
The interwar years weren't a time of abundance for everyone, though. For some, turkey still wouldn't have been an option, and smaller birds would have been served with plenty of root vegetables – you can spot a bowl of sprouts at this crowded 1930s dinner table, too. Those who could splurge on a turkey would need to pick it up on the last possible day, as most households wouldn't have owned a fridge either.
In the 1930s, the popularity of plum pudding at Christmas showed no signs of diminishing in the UK. In fact, it was in this decade that the first reference to brandy butter – a now classic Christmas pudding accompaniment – was made. This 1937 photograph captures the historic (and still-running) Harvest Home festival in East Brent, Somerset, and depicts villagers carrying puddings through the streets.
The Second World War brought yet more hardship, and Christmas looked rather different for many families. It was in this era that 'mock goose' – a dish usually made with mashed potatoes, seasonings and sausagemeat or stuffing – became a popular substitute for a roasted bird. Here, though, troops in a mansion-turned-wartime hospital enjoy a slap-up meal complete with traditional Christmas puddings in 1940.
By the end of the decade, magazines like Good Housekeeping were promoting the return of elaborate Christmas dinners with multiple courses and trimmings and suggesting hearty foods like meat pies as grazing starters. This photo from the time shows a decadent platter of cold cuts.
By the 1950s, a post-war technology boom meant that many more households in the UK had fridges and freezers in their kitchens. This allowed cooks to shop around for a Christmas turkey and buy their meat well in advance of the big day, so tucking into a holiday bird was no longer only the domain of the most privileged in society. This 1955 photo shows a family in paper hats watching on as Dad carves the turkey.
Pigs in blankets are a perennial Christmas crowd-pleaser, and it was in this decade that the first written record of this meaty favourite appeared. They were referenced in 1957 in Betty Crocker’s Cook Book For Boys And Girls, and they've featured on Christmas dinner plates ever since. Here they decorate a juicy turkey, alongside cranberry sauce, roast potatoes and sprouts.
A 1950s Christmas feast wouldn't have been complete without a cocktail or two, with top picks including the Tom Collins, the Sidecar and the classic Gimlet. Snapped in 1955, this festive table has everything you'd need for some retro cocktails, from whisky and dry sherry to Dubonnet.
Fast-forward to the 1960s, and turkey remains the winning choice for Christmas dinner. In this gloriously festive photo from 1964, a family in London sits down to a traditional meal that will be familiar to us all – sliced turkey, Brussels sprouts, roast potatoes and carrots, all smothered in gravy. The old-school table decorations, festive balloons and cheerful red candles deserve a mention too.
Canapés and hors d'oeuvres were having a moment in the 1960s – a craze that would last well into the next couple of decades. A smorgasbord of fun snacks is captured here, and crackers are topped with everything from prawns and cucumber to ham and cheese. Our favourites are the dinky penguins fashioned from hard-boiled eggs and black olives.
Perfect for a post-lunch tipple, punch bowls have long been a Christmas favourite. The wassail bowl has its roots right back in the medieval era, when it was typically made with mulled ale, spices and honey, and this 1960s punch is a spin on the centuries-old recipe. It's served here with apples and toast on the side.
It wasn't all about the main event in the 1970s; cooks got creative with starters too. A cult classic in this decade was the prawn cocktail, which graced Christmas dining tables across the UK. Eye-catching, tasty, and easy to make, it remains a fail-safe dinner party starter to this day.
Another foodie hit in the 1970s was classic cheese fondue. By this decade, fondue parties – where friends would gather to feast on oozing cheese with dipping bread and vegetables – were hugely popular, and the fondue set would typically make a special appearance sometime after Christmas dinner.
The 1980s were the decade of the dessert, with sweet treats like Black Forest gâteau and profiteroles becoming ever more popular post-Christmas dinner. In Britain, the era gave birth to a classic dessert, the Viennetta. This layered ice cream cake was first introduced by Wall's in 1982, and had a cult following for a period in the US, before being discontinued in the 1990s.
Many see the 1990s as the era of the celebrity chef and, in Britain, famous faces like Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson inspired home cooks to shake up their Christmas dinners. Minor updates like adding pancetta to roasted sprouts kept the dinner table feeling fresh, while Christmas episodes of Jamie's hit TV series The Naked Chef included recipes like Japanese pork rolls and Sicilian cannoli.
This inviting holiday spread, photographed in 2007, shows that despite new influences coming in over the decades, the essence of Christmas dinner has remained the same. Just like in the 1950s, this turkey platter is adorned with Brussels sprouts and accompanied by honey-roast ham and cranberry sauce.
By the 2010s vegetarianism had become more common, with around 2% of adults skipping meat and fish. Brands like Linda McCartney and Quorn were already well-established, and nut roasts and meat substitutes were beginning to make an appearance on the Christmas dinner table. Here, diners dig into a vegetarian wellington filled with smoked tofu and chestnuts.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Christmas dinner looked a little different in 2020 and 2021, with families gathering around computer screens rather than the dinner table. Despite restrictions in the UK, these two friends from separate households braved a chilly day on Clapham Common, South London, to have a socially distanced lunch with all the trimmings.
After years of Covid-related uncertainty, we’re all looking forward to finally having a back-to-normal Christmas with family and friends this year. Unsurprisingly, a lot of us are going big for 2023, spreading the celebrations over as many days (and meals) as possible, from Christmas Eve cocktails to a really special breakfast on Christmas Day. Festive nostalgia is a huge trend, too – think Quality Street, chocolate Yule logs and an old-school turkey dinner complete with pigs in blankets, sausagemeat stuffing and all the other classic trimmings.
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