By James Whitmore, Editor-in-Chief
Last updated: 6 November 2026
Thanksgiving in London falls on Thursday 26 November 2026, and for the city's American community, their friends and anyone who simply fancies a turkey feast a month before Christmas, it has become one of the busiest Thursday nights of late autumn. This guide plans the whole evening: where the dinner fits, how to bridge the gap between pumpkin pie and the club door, which London clubs are actually open on a Thursday, and how to get everyone home when the Night Tube is not running.
The format is the one this site uses for every combination night: the main event first, the party after. Thanksgiving is a slightly unusual opener, because a big dinner tends to slow a group down rather than wind it up, so most of the planning below is about keeping the energy alive after the plates are cleared.
When Thanksgiving falls in 2026, and why the Thursday matters
Thanksgiving is always the fourth Thursday of November, so in 2026 it lands on Thursday 26 November. In London it is not a public holiday: offices are open on the Friday, the shops are deep into Black Friday, and most of the people at your table will have work in the morning unless they have booked the day off.
That Thursday date shapes everything else. It means a shorter list of open clubs than a Friday or Saturday would give you, a quieter door at most of them, and no Night Tube on the way home. None of that is a problem if you plan for it. Thursday is a genuinely good night out in London: the West End clubs that open midweek tend to be easier to walk into, the crowd is more local, and table minimums are usually at the lower end of each venue's range. Our Thursday hub at parties on Thursday lists the regular Thursday line-up across the city.
Booking the Thanksgiving dinner
Londoners celebrate Thanksgiving on the same date as the United States, and a long list of restaurants lays on special menus for the night, from American-style steakhouses and hotel dining rooms to barbecue joints and supper clubs. Time Out's Thanksgiving roundup is the best place to see the kind of thing on offer; it covers set menus in Westminster, Mayfair, Park Lane, St James's and Shoreditch, with the traditional turkey, stuffing, sweet potato and pumpkin pie running through almost all of them.
A few planning points matter more than the exact restaurant:
- Book early. Thanksgiving menus are usually one night only, often with a single sitting or a fixed set menu, and the popular rooms fill well before the week itself.
- Choose the area by the club, not the other way round. A dinner in Mayfair, St James's or Soho puts you a short walk from the clubs below. A dinner in east or north London adds a taxi ride at exactly the moment the group is at its most comfortable and least motivated to move.
- Pick a 7pm or 7:30pm sitting. A full Thanksgiving menu with several courses can run two and a half to three hours. A 7pm start finishes around 10pm, which leaves room for a drink before a club door at 11pm or later.
- Check the deposit and service charge. Set menus often need a deposit or card details to hold the table, and a discretionary service charge is commonly added to the bill in London.
If the group would rather skip the formal menu, the same timings work with any long dinner. Our guide to dinner and clubbing combinations covers the wider restaurant-then-club format.
The bridge: from pumpkin pie to the dance floor
This is where Thanksgiving nights succeed or fail. Every other opener in this series, karaoke, comedy, a gig, gets people talking and moving. A turkey dinner does the opposite: it sits everyone down for three hours and then makes them sleepy. The hour after dessert is the whole ballgame.
What works:
- Move straight away. Settle the bill before the last course if you can, and leave the restaurant as soon as dessert is done. Lingering over coffee is how a club night turns into an early night.
- Walk to a bar first. A ten or fifteen minute walk in cold November air does more for a full group than any espresso. A short cocktail stop near the club gives everyone a reset and a natural meeting point for anyone joining late.
- Aim for the door between 11pm and midnight. Most Thursday clubs open at 11pm and fill from around midnight. Arriving in that window means the room is building rather than empty, and the door is relaxed.
- Go easy on the wine at dinner. Door teams turn away anyone who looks the worse for wear, whatever the occasion, and a long dinner with free-flowing wine is the classic way to get there before the night starts.
Which London clubs are open on Thanksgiving Thursday
Not every big London club opens on a Thursday. The table below shows the venues we book that do, with their usual Thursday hours and the starting table minimum, as of November 2026. Prices are minimum spends for a table, not entry fees, and they vary by night, table position and group size.
| Club | Area | Thursday hours | Tables from |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99 Regent Street (formerly Cuckoo Club) | Mayfair, by Piccadilly Circus | 11pm to 4am, one floor on Thursdays | £600 |
| Rumour (formerly Tabu) | Mayfair, Dover Street | 11pm to 4am, the more relaxed night | £1,000 (booths) |
| The Box | Soho | 11pm to 4am | £1,000 |
| Reign | Piccadilly | Open Thursday, closes 4am | £800 |
| Selene | Fitzrovia, near Oxford Circus | 11pm to 4am | £800 |
| Dear Darling Mayfair | St James's, Jermyn Street | Open Thursday, closes 6am | £800 |
| Itzel (formerly Funky Buddha) | Mayfair, Berkeley Street | Open Thursday | £500 |
| The Scotch of St James | St James's | Open Thursday, closes 5am | Walk-in only, no guestlist |
A few notes on choosing between them:
- For a mixed group of Americans and Londoners, 99 Regent Street is the easy pick: a West End address a short walk from Piccadilly Circus, open-format music, and the lowest table minimum of the big Mayfair names. Entry is 19 and over with physical photo ID.
- For a smaller, dressier crowd, Rumour is one intimate room of red velvet booths with a strict no-photography policy on the dance floor. Men are not added to the guestlist, so a mixed group should book a booth.
- For something theatrical, The Box in Soho mixes late-night performance with a club. It has no guestlist, so plan on a table.
- For a late finish, Dear Darling Mayfair runs to 6am and The Scotch of St James to 5am, useful if part of the group has the Friday off.
Two of the best-known names are not on the list: Tape and Cirque le Soir do not open on Thursdays, so they are Friday options (see below).
Planning for a Thanksgiving group
Thanksgiving tables are often bigger and more mixed than a normal club group: visiting family, colleagues from the London office, friends of friends. A little admin up front saves a lot of standing outside.
- Photo ID for everyone. London venues must operate an age verification policy under the mandatory licensing conditions, and in practice the door wants a physical photo ID. For visitors from the United States, the passport is the document to bring; a state driving licence is not always accepted, and a photo on a phone never is.
- Check the age line. Most of the clubs above admit 18 and over, but 99 Regent Street is 19 and over. If anyone in a family group is under 21, check before you book rather than at the door.
- Book a table for groups of six or more. A table holds the group together, covers entry at most venues, and avoids the guestlist lottery for the men in the party. The minimum spend is shared across the group, so split it in advance.
- Dress for a West End club, not a dinner at home. Smart and dressed up is the standard at every venue in the table above. Trainers, sportswear and hoodies are the usual reasons for a refusal.
Making it a long weekend: Friday and Black Friday
Plenty of visitors treat Thanksgiving as the start of a long weekend in London, and the Friday opens up a wider choice of clubs. Tape on Hanover Square opens on Fridays from 11pm to 3:45am, with Little Tape next door carrying on until 5:30am, and Cirque le Soir in Soho is open on Fridays until 3:45am. Tables at Tape start from £750 and at Cirque le Soir from £800, as of November 2026.
If the plan is Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and a bigger club night on Friday, book both nights together: Friday tables in the West End go faster than Thursday ones, especially with the first Christmas parties of the season landing on the same weekend.
Getting home on a Thursday night
The Night Tube runs on Friday and Saturday nights only, so on Thanksgiving Thursday the last Underground trains leave central London around midnight to half past. Once you are inside a club at 11pm, assume the Tube is not an option for the journey home.
- Night buses run through the night from the West End and are the cheapest route, but check the route before you go.
- Licensed black cabs can be hailed on Regent Street, Piccadilly and around Soho, and app-based minicabs work everywhere, though prices rise around closing time.
- Agree a plan before the club. Decide who is sharing a car and with whom while everyone is still sober enough to remember it.
Book your Thanksgiving table
Thanksgiving 2026 is Thursday 26 November. Book the dinner early, keep the gap between dessert and the club door short, and choose a club that is actually open on a Thursday. Message our booking desk on WhatsApp with your group size, preferred club and budget, and we will confirm availability and the minimum spend for the night.