Christmas shopping is both hungry and thirsty work, a fact that many of London's most fashionable food and drink hangouts have cottoned onto. 

So our suggestion is that next time you find yourself on a well-intentioned trip into town, sack it off and take yourself for a decadent Tom Ford cocktail at Foxlow, a Snowball at Shrimpy's, a caramel and apple crumble crepe with a side of Champagne at the pop-up Krug Kreperie or one of the many other much-preferable options to mentally tasering your way down Oxford Street this Christmas. There's even a Moet & Chandon vending machine in Selfridges if you find yourself in need of a quick fix.

Have a click through our gallery to see the best places in London to skive off your present buying, and remember: the internet is for shopping, IRL is for eating and boozing.