Eight pubs in and around Watford with 2026 Christmas Day menus, from £49.99 to £104.95 a head, plus deposits and hygiene ratings. Checked November 2026.

For Christmas Day in Watford, the menus most people will find are at the Essex Arms in Cassiobury (£74.95 a head), the Tudor Arms on Bushey Mill Lane (£62.95) and Toby Carvery Aldenham in Garston (£74.99). Just outside town, the Fox & Hounds in Croxley Green has the lowest price on this list at £49.99. Every entry was checked against the venue’s own site on 2 November 2026.

Prices are per person and exclude any service charge unless we say otherwise. Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday.

Watford

1. The Essex Arms, Cassiobury

The Essex Arms is an Ember Inns pub on Langley Way, on the Cassiobury estate. Its Christmas page describes “festive food, seasonal drinks and a warm welcome”, and the Christmas Day menu is three courses for £74.95, or £37.50 for children.

Before Christmas the festive set menu is two courses for £23.99 (£9.99 for children), and Breakfast with Santa, which includes a gift for each child, is £12.99 a head. On Boxing Day a three-course menu costs £33.50, or £11.99 for children.

Ember asks for a £10 deposit per guest on Christmas Day, with full payment and pre-orders by 1 December.

Price Christmas Day 3 courses £74.95, children £37.50; festive set menu 2 courses £23.99, children £9.99; Boxing Day 3 courses £33.50; Breakfast with Santa £12.99
Booking Christmas Day £10 a head deposit; full payment and pre-order by 1 December
Call 01923 218031
Address Langley Way, Watford, WD17 3EG
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 11 December 2025
Website emberinns.co.uk/nationalsearch/eastofengland/the-essex-arms-watford/christmas
Listing Our listing
Good for children's Christmas Day menu, Breakfast with Santa, Boxing Day menu, New Year's Eve

2. The Tudor Arms, Bushey Mill Lane

The Tudor Arms is a Greene King pub on Bushey Mill Lane in north-east Watford. Its Christmas Day menu is three courses for £62.95.

Starters include smoked salmon on toasted ciabatta, a twice-baked Croxton Manor Cheddar soufflé and butternut squash and sweet potato soup; the mains include hand-carved turkey with stuffing, Yorkshire pudding and a pig in blanket, and a salmon and prawn Wellington. The pub says meat-free options are available.

A separate children’s Christmas Day menu costs £27.95 for three courses. A £10 deposit per person secures the booking, and pre-orders opened on 21 October.

Price Christmas Day 3 courses £62.95, children £27.95
Booking £10 a head deposit for adults and children; pre-orders open from 21 October 2026
Call 01923 225105
Address Bushey Mill Lane, Watford, WD24 7TQ
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 19 February 2026
Website greeneking.co.uk/pubs/hertfordshire/tudor-arms/christmas/christmas-day
Listing Our listing
Good for children's Christmas Day menu, meat-free options, gluten-free menu

3. Toby Carvery Aldenham, Garston

Toby Carvery Aldenham sits on Hartspring Lane in Garston, with a Watford postcode though the FSA lists it under Hertsmere. Its Christmas Day price is £74.99.

The format is the chain’s own: a festive starter at the table, then the carvery deck for “hand-carved meats, crispy roast potatoes, fluffy Yorkshire puddings” and the trimmings, then pudding. Toby asks for a £10 deposit for every guest booking on Christmas Day, whatever the party size, and full payment and pre-order by 1 December.

The restaurant does not publish a separate children’s Christmas Day price on its page.

Price Christmas Day £74.99
Booking £10 a head deposit for every guest; full payment and pre-order by 1 December
Call 01923 225826
Address 3 Hartspring Lane, Watford, WD25 8AD
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 24 July 2025
Website tobycarvery.co.uk/restaurants/east-of-england/aldenhamwatford/menus/christmasdaymenu
Listing Our listing
Good for carvery, large family groups

Croxley Green and Abbots Langley

4. The Red House, Croxley Green

The Red House is a Greene King pub on Watford Road in Croxley Green. Its Christmas Day menu is three courses for £61.

Starters include smoked salmon with horseradish mayo, a Cheddar soufflé with red onion chutney and chicken pâté; mains include hand-carved roast turkey with sausage meat stuffing, a pig in blanket and Yorkshire pudding, a duo of grilled salmon and Black Tiger prawns, and a vegetarian option. A children’s Christmas Day menu costs £29 for three courses, and there is a menu with no gluten-containing ingredients at the same £61.

The pub asks for a £10 deposit per adult and per child.

Price Christmas Day 3 courses £61, children £29
Booking £10 a head deposit for adults and children; pre-orders open from 21 October 2026
Call 01923 772107
Address Watford Road, Croxley Green, WD3 3DX
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 5 December 2024
Website greeneking.co.uk/pubs/hertfordshire/red-house/christmas/christmas-day
Good for children's Christmas Day menu, gluten-free menu, vegetarian option

5. The Fox & Hounds, Croxley Green

The Fox & Hounds on New Road is the lowest Christmas Day price on this list at £49.99. The pub’s page calls it “four delicious courses”, while the menu PDF prices it as three courses at £49.99.

The page lists pigs in blankets, cranberry-topped Brie and Marie Rose king prawns among the dishes, and says there are “a bunch of tempting meat-free options”. The children’s Christmas Day menu is three courses for £24.99.

A £10 deposit per adult and per child secures the table.

Price Christmas Day £49.99, children £24.99
Booking £10 a head deposit for adults and children; pre-orders open from 21 October 2026
Call 01923 772807
Address 216 New Road, Croxley Green, WD3 3HH
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 3 April 2026
Website greeneking.co.uk/pubs/hertfordshire/fox-and-hounds/christmas/christmas-day
Good for lowest Christmas Day price, children's Christmas Day menu, meat-free options

6. The Swan, Abbots Langley

The Swan is a Greene King pub on College Road in Abbots Langley. Its Christmas Day menu PDF prices three courses at £57.95 and says it is only available on 25 December.

Mains on the menu include hand-carved turkey with a pig in blanket, a cranberry-glazed nut roast with a vegan version, and a surf and turf of 8oz sirloin with garlic and coriander king prawns; puddings include a baked vanilla cheesecake and a Bramley apple and black cherry crumble. The children’s Christmas Day menu is £27.95 for three courses.

A £10 deposit per person is required.

Price Christmas Day 3 courses £57.95, children £27.95
Booking £10 a head deposit for adults and children; pre-orders open from 21 October 2026
Call 01923 672539
Address College Road, Abbots Langley, WD5 0NR
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 19 February 2026
Website greeneking.co.uk/pubs/hertfordshire/swan/christmas/christmas-day
Good for children's Christmas Day menu, vegan main, gluten-free menu

Country pubs west of Watford

7. The Cricketers, Sarratt

The Cricketers is a Brunning & Price pub overlooking the green in Sarratt village. The company lists Good Pub Guide entries every year from 2009 until the guide stopped publishing, and a Hertfordshire Food and Drink Awards Freehouse Pub of the Year title in 2016.

Its Christmas Day menu is £104.95 a head. Starters include a duck confit and green peppercorn terrine, and smoked salmon with salmon caviar; mains include roast turkey with duck fat roasties, pigs in blankets, sprouts and chestnuts, a chalk stream trout Wellington and dry-aged sirloin of beef, with a vegan cep mushroom arancini among the starters.

From 25 November to 24 December the Christmas Fayre menu is £38.95 for three courses or £33.95 for two.

Open Christmas Day 11am to 4pm, Christmas Day menu served 11.45am to 1pm (as the pub lists it)
Price Christmas Day £104.95; Christmas Fayre menu (25 November to 24 December) 3 courses £38.95, 2 courses £33.95
Booking tables of eight or more book through the pub's Christmas page
Call 01923 270877
Address The Green, Sarratt, WD3 6AS
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 8 October 2025
Website brunningandprice.co.uk/cricketers/christmas_event/christmas-day-2026
Good for village green, gluten-free dishes marked, vegan starter, Boxing Day

8. The Coy Carp, Harefield

The Coy Carp is a Vintage Inns pub on Coppermill Lane, which the pub says overlooks “the water where the River Colne and Grand Union Canal meet”; it was originally known as The Fisheries. The FSA lists it under Three Rivers.

The pub mentions “crackling log fires”. Its 2026 Christmas Day menu is three courses for £104.95: starters include baked scallops, figs with blue cheese and prosciutto, and gin-cured smoked salmon, and mains include a boneless roast duck.

The children’s Christmas Day menu is £42.50 for three courses, with turkey, roast beef, sea bass or a vegan butternut squash tart. Vintage Inns asks for a £10 deposit per person, with full payment and pre-order by 8 December; a 10% discretionary service charge applies to tables of seven or more.

Price Christmas Day 3 courses £104.95, children £42.50; 10% discretionary service charge for 7 or more
Booking £10 a head deposit; full payment and pre-order by 8 December
Address Coppermill Lane, Harefield, UB9 6HZ
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 1 March 2026
Website vintageinn.co.uk/restaurants/london/thecoycarpharefielduxbridge/christmas-day-menu
Good for canalside garden, log fires, children's Christmas Day menu, vegan option

How we chose

These are the pubs in and around Watford that publish a 2026 Christmas Day menu with a price you can check. They are not our favourites. We started from the Food Standards Agency register for Watford Borough Council and Three Rivers District Council, left out anything rated below 3, and kept only places whose own website shows a 2026 Christmas Day price. Prices, dates and deposit rules come from each pub’s own site and menu on 2 November 2026. Several well-known places did not make the list: the Harvesters at Garston and Croxley Green publish no Christmas pages for their restaurants, the Grove at Chandler’s Cross sells Christmas lunch only as part of a hotel stay, and the Royal Oak at Watford Heath and most town-centre bars publish no Christmas Day menu we could find. Check with the pub before booking, as festive menus can change.

Run a place that should be here, or spot something that has changed? Email newsdesk@watfordtoday.co.uk. Taken a good photograph of any of these places? Email it to newsdesk@watfordtoday.co.uk and we will add it with your name as the credit.

More in Watford at Christmas: the Christmas lights switch-on, pantomime and Christmas shows, the Big Skate ice rink, the Santa Dash, Christmas trains and closures, things to do in Watford, what’s on this month and pubs in our business directory.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I have Christmas dinner in Watford on Christmas Day 2026?

Eight pubs on this list publish a Christmas Day 2026 price: the Essex Arms in Cassiobury (£74.95), the Tudor Arms on Bushey Mill Lane (£62.95), Toby Carvery Aldenham in Garston (£74.99), the Red House (£61) and the Fox & Hounds (£49.99) in Croxley Green, the Swan in Abbots Langley (£57.95), the Cricketers in Sarratt (£104.95) and the Coy Carp near Harefield (£104.95).

How much is Christmas dinner at a pub near Watford in 2026?

Christmas Day runs from £49.99 at the Fox & Hounds in Croxley Green to £104.95 at the Cricketers in Sarratt and the Coy Carp. Most of the Watford and Croxley pubs sit between £57.95 and £74.99. On other December days the Essex Arms festive menu is £23.99 for two courses and the Cricketers’ Christmas Fayre menu is £38.95 for three.

Are there children’s prices for Christmas Day near Watford?

Yes. Children’s Christmas Day menus cost £24.99 at the Fox & Hounds, £27.95 at the Tudor Arms and the Swan, £29 at the Red House, £37.50 at the Essex Arms and £42.50 at the Coy Carp.