Christmas Day in Belper: All the Trimmings, None of the Washing Up
It’s September. The Christmas decorations might still be in the loft, but one festive decision is worth making before the fairy lights come out: who’s cooking Christmas dinner?
If you’d quite like the answer to be “someone else”, we have a suggestion.
Spend Christmas Day 2026 at The Lion Hotel in Belper, with a special festive menu, your favourite people around the table and no roasting tins waiting for you afterwards.
You bring the Christmas jumpers. We’ll take care of dinner.
Swap the kitchen timer for time together
Cooking Christmas lunch can involve a surprising amount of maths. What time does the turkey go in? How many potatoes is too many? And why does everything need the oven at a different temperature?
Christmas Day at The Lion gives you the chance to sit down and enjoy the occasion. Catch up with family, admire somebody’s spectacularly questionable festive outfit and actually finish a conversation while your food is being prepared.
For anyone searching for Christmas Day lunch in Belper or Derbyshire, it’s a lovely way to make the meal part of the celebration rather than the job that takes over the morning.
A Christmas menu worth making plans for
Our Christmas Day menu is £125 per person, with children under 12 half price, and there’s plenty to look forward to from the first course onwards.
Start with celeriac and truffle soup, crab beignets with lobster bisque, smoked duck terrine or Cricket St Thomas goat’s cheese with honey poached figs. Then comes a spiced apple martini sorbet, giving your festive feast a little extra flourish.
And then, the big decision: what’s taking centre stage on your plate?
Team turkey, or tempted by something different?
For the traditionalists, our pancetta wrapped Norfolk Bronze turkey comes with chestnut stuffing, a pig in blanket, duck fat roast potatoes and turkey stock gravy.
It’s Christmas dinner with all the familiar favourites. The sort of plate that makes you briefly stop talking when it arrives.
But turkey doesn’t get all the attention. There’s also roast sirloin of Derbyshire beef, served with a shin of beef stuffed mushroom, horseradish mash, Yorkshire pudding, duck fat roast potatoes and port and rosemary jus.
Other choices include Dover sole stuffed with prawn mousseline, duck and partridge ballantine, or a chestnut mushroom and salt baked swede Wellington. All mains are served with roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables.
Whatever your Christmas dinner tradition, it’s worth having a proper look through the menu before choosing.
Save room. You’ll be glad you did.
Christmas is a perfectly reasonable time to develop a separate appetite for pudding.
Choose from sticky toffee Christmas pudding, blood orange and Campari tart, chocolate and hazelnut filled gianduia choux, or panettone trifle with Amaretto Zabaione, cherries and whipped clotted cream.
The celebrations continue with a cheeseboard, followed by coffee, petit fours and mince pies.
Suddenly, going home to a mountain of washing up sounds even less appealing.
Make your Christmas Day plans this September
There are still presents to buy and somebody will inevitably leave the wrapping until Christmas Eve. But getting your lunch plans organised now means one important decision is already made.
To check availability for Friday 25th December 2026, call our team on 01773 824033 or email enquiries@lionhotelbelper.com.
A £50 non-refundable deposit per person is required for Christmas Day. Full payment and menu pre-orders are due by 9th November; bookings made after that date require both at the time of booking. Please let the team know about any dietary requirements when enquiring.
Explore our Christmas 2026 brochure and booking terms, choose your favourites and let’s get Christmas dinner in the diary.
