Lights
Christmas Light Installation in Hampstead, Highgate & St John's Wood
What homeowners in NW3, NW8 and N6 need to know about Christmas lights — conservation areas, listed buildings, period villas, and how to install without touching the brickwork.
In Hampstead, Highgate and St John's Wood, Christmas light installation is permitted almost everywhere provided fixings are temporary, fully removable and leave no trace on the building fabric — near-blanket conservation area designation means the installer must read the rulebook before the catalogue.
Why Hampstead and Highgate are different
Almost the entire western half of NW3, all of N6 around Highgate Village, and most of NW8 around St John's Wood High Street sit inside one or more conservation areas: Hampstead, Fitzjohns/Netherhall, Redington/Frognal, Belsize, Highgate Village, Highgate (Camden side), St John's Wood, Elsworthy and Boundary Road.
Anything attached permanently to a building's exterior can theoretically engage planning rules. Fully temporary Christmas decoration is permitted everywhere in London — the catch is the word temporary. Drilling into brickwork, screwing into a fascia or using adhesive on stucco can bring a different view from a planning enforcement officer.
What "correctly" looks like
- No drilling, screws, nails or staples on any surface.
- No adhesives on stucco, stone, brick or rendered surfaces.
- Plastic ridge clips, gutter clips and shingle tabs only, gripping existing features.
- Soft fabric ties on railings, balconies and balustrades — reusable, non-marking.
- Cabling tucked along mortar joints, behind downpipes and under window ledges — never across the face of a stucco wall.
- Full takedown by 14 January, with written sign-off that no fixings remain.
This is the same method used on Grade II listed houses in the Hampstead Village and Heath frontages — the only method used, full stop.
The classic Victorian villa brief
A typical NW3 brief: a five-bedroom, four-storey late-Victorian red brick villa, set back from the road, mature trees, tiled front path, stone porch, one or two bay windows.
- Roofline trace
- Main eaves, dormer peaks and gable ends
- Porch outline
- A single clean line around the arch, plus a door wreath
- Bay window detail
- Warm white traced along the cornices, two or three storeys
- Two front trees wrapped
- Bay trees in pots, or a magnolia and a holly in the garden
- Gate piers
- Warm white wound through the wrought iron gate
Real prices for NW3, N6 and NW8
All prices inc. VAT for the all-inclusive service (design, supply, install, in-season maintenance); January takedown and off-season storage are optional add-ons.
| Property | Typical scope | Price range |
|---|---|---|
| Belsize Park / Primrose Hill terrace | Roofline, portico, railings | £900 – £1,800 |
| St John's Wood semi-detached villa | Roofline, bay window, porch, two front trees | £1,800 – £3,500 |
| Hampstead Victorian villa | Full roofline, gables, porch, three trees, garden gate | £2,500 – £4,500 |
| Highgate Village period house | Roofline, sash window detail, porch, mature tree | £2,200 – £4,000 |
| Bishops Avenue / Hampstead Lane detached estate | Full façade, multi-gable roofline, four to eight trees, lit driveway | £6,000 – £15,000+ |
| Compton Avenue / Highgate West Hill detached | Full façade, mature front garden, gate piers, drive | £4,000 – £8,000 |
The Bishops Avenue end of the market is closer to a Surrey estate brief than a London villa brief — long driveways, multiple trees, sometimes outbuildings.
Streets we work on
Frognal, Frognal Lane, Frognal Way, Netherhall Gardens, Redington Road, Templewood Avenue, Templewood Gardens, Bracknell Gardens, Wedderburn Road, Lyndhurst Road, Lyndhurst Gardens, Belsize Park Gardens, Belsize Avenue, Eton Avenue, Elsworthy Road, Marlborough Place, Hamilton Terrace, Carlton Hill, Springfield Road, Acacia Road, Avenue Road, The Bishops Avenue, Hampstead Lane, Sheldon Avenue, Compton Avenue, The Grove, South Grove, Pond Square, North Road, West Hill, Highgate West Hill, Holly Lodge Gardens, Fitzroy Park.
We cover the whole of NW3, NW8, N6 and NW6, plus Belsize Park, Primrose Hill and Swiss Cottage.
A note on the Heath frontages
Houses backing onto Hampstead Heath, Kenwood, Highgate Cemetery or Waterlow Park often have a rear more visible from the Heath than the front from the road. Some of our best-loved N6 jobs are designed to be seen from the Heath at dusk — a restrained front, and the show on the garden side.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need conservation area or listed building consent for Christmas lights? For fully temporary, fully removable decoration with no fixings drilled or adhered, no consent is required. Camden, Haringey and Westminster all treat this as permitted development.
My house is Grade II listed. Can you still install? Yes. We routinely install on listed houses in Hampstead Village, Highgate Village and around The Grove using a fully non-invasive, reversible fixings system.
What about fixings on red brick? Plastic ridge clips on tiles, plastic gutter clips on guttering, soft ties on railings, cabling routed along mortar joints. Nothing drilled, nailed or stuck to the brick.
Do you cover the Bishops Avenue and Hampstead Lane houses? Yes — larger detached properties on Bishops Avenue, Hampstead Lane, Sheldon Avenue and Winnington Road make up a meaningful share of our NW3/N6 work each season, typically £6,000–£15,000+ including lit driveways and multiple wrapped trees.
Booking
Ready when you are
Want it done properly, and yours to keep?
We design, install and maintain it across London and the South East, and the display is yours afterwards. Send a few photos and we'll price it.
Where to go next
More on lights
- Christmas Light Installation in Kensington, Chelsea & KnightsbridgeHow Christmas light installation actually works on London's most expensive postcodes — SW1, SW3, SW7 and W8. Real prices, conservation rules, and why the prime streets choose warm white.
- Christmas Lights for Esher, Cobham, Weybridge & Virginia WaterLighting Surrey's Golden Triangle — St George's Hill, Wentworth, Burwood Park and the surrounding country house belt. Real prices for £2m+ homes and how to brief a serious estate display.
- Christmas Lights for Ascot, Windsor, Beaconsfield & Gerrards CrossLighting Berkshire and Buckinghamshire country houses — from Georgian manors to new-build mega-homes. Gates, drives, specimen trees and how the all-six approach works on a true country estate.