Still, it has so far been exclusive, although shamefully not an app… one day, eh? (And, yes, I said that last year). Do not, however, expect to turn up to one of these pubs on the day and get a seat for a three-course meal. Christmas Day dining sessions sometimes book up weeks ahead.
A few pubs have dropped out since last year 2016. Drinking or also eating, choose a pub close to home. Ours may be World City No 1 but it runs no public transport on the greatest single holiday of the English year.
* Cock
315 Mare Street, Hackney E8 1EJ. Unpromising exterior below the quality of this affluent-millennials favourite, 1pm-3pm
* Dove
24/28 Broadway Market E8 4Q (07912 041122), dog-friendly, noon-3pm/ Some NE London ales but speciality is Belgian beers
* Marksman, 254 Hackney Road E2 7SJ (0207 739 7393), drinks only, noon-3pm

251 Royal College Street. Camden NW1 9LU (020 7482 6021), noon-4pm: a traditional bar inside a fine Georgian building. Glorious opp. for Hackneyites able to do a longish but brain-reviving schlepp along the Regent’s Canal
127 Grove Road E3 5BH (8980 2918), noon-3pm, discourages dogs. Ideally approached on foot (beware cyclists) or bicycle (consider walkers) via Regent’s Canal towpath
112 Pritchards Road, Hackney E2 9AP, noon-3pm (020 76133498). Within metres of hipster Broadway Market, yet in its own world. The Percy discourages dogs, although it has an outdoors heated rear garden, so you might want to plead your pooch’s case
64 Northwold Road, Clapton E5 8RL (020 8806 2449), noon-2pm, dog-friendly* Royal Sovereign
* Talbot
109 Mortimer Road, De Beauvoir N1 4JY (0207 241 2995), drinks only, dog-friendly, noon-5pm
* Wenlock Arms, 26 Wenlock Road (not Street), Hoxton N1 7TA (0871 951 1000), noon-3pm.
* JD Wetherspoon, 282 Mare Street, Hackney E8 1HE (020 8525 9010), 11am-3pm. Good range of craft beers in spacious interior, usually male-dominated. A local loves the carpets so much he wrote a book about them. Foyer smoking area, heated roof terrace. No dogs is company policy
David Altheer 201217
* If you run a pub, please note that the list has grown since it was first published. If you want your pub added to the list, this year or next year 2018, email editor[at]lovingdalston.co.uk, substituting @ for [at] with the necessary details and no more, not even a picture.
![Wetherspoon PH 282 Mare St, Hackney E8 1HE121215 © DavidAltheer[at]gmail.com](https://i2.wp.com/lovingdalston.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/wetherspoonE8DAb.jpg?resize=640%2C275)
* Backstory: Openers from 2016; Christmas Day pubs 2015.
* Pictures © DavidAltheer[at]gmail.com and all for sale for reproduction. Bigger format versions usually available.
* Emboldened underscored words in most cases indicate a hyperlink, a reader service rare among websites. If a link does not work, it is probably because the site to which the URL refers has not been maintained. Most photographs can be visually enlarged by pressing on them.