Carols Till Closing: The Mermaid

St Saviour's Church brings its annual Christmas singalong to The Mermaid on Tuesday 8 December, as part of its Carols Till Closing pub tour. It's the church's 14th year running the series, which takes the carol service out of the pews and into local pubs across St Albans. This particular stop is one of ten on the tour, which runs from 1 to 21 December.

Fr Richard and Paul Davis lead the singing, and the set mixes traditional carols with popular Christmas songs. The format is simple: the carols start at 8pm and keep going right until closing time, so you can drop in for a few and head off, or stay for the whole thing. If you're worried about knowing the words, there's a song book for the series available to download as a PDF, so you can follow along without having to rely on memory.

It's a local tradition that's built up a bit of a following over the years, drawing people from across the city and district to sing together in a pub rather than a church. If you've never been, it's less of a formal service and more of a community singalong—the kind of thing that works better with a drink in hand and a room full of people joining in.

The Mermaid is at 98 Hatfield Road, St Albans, AL1 3RL. There's no entry fee, so you can just turn up. The singing starts at 20:00 and runs until the pub closes.