Just when you thought St Pancras station's annual Christmas tree had done it all — from perfume bottles to Lego — 2025's effort turns out to be a 12-metre-tall rotating music box.
The station has a reputation for some of the most original festive trees London has seen, and this year, it's partnered with Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity (GOSH Charity) to create a 'clockwork' music box design, which is 'Powered by Dreams'.
Those dreams in question include becoming an Olympic gymnast, a pilot, and to travel into outer space — and come from 38 children at GOSH, whose notes and drawings can be see passing through the works of the clockwork tree — through 'Dream Windows'.
These dreams are then 'transformed' into the ascending spiral of hand-decorated baubles.
As well as admiring the tree's clockwork innards, visitors are invited to press one of three buttons which select 'Ballerina', 'Christmas' or 'Cog' music.
The huge clockwork key at the base of the tree is wonderful for photo opportunities — and both the key and the music buttons feature Braille for the visually impaired.
The tree's crowning glory is an illuminated ballerina, inspired by a real-life dancer from the GOSH Charity-funded GOSH Arts programme, who visits children and their families on the wards at the hospital.
In all, 30 craftspeople took over 1,800 hours to complete the tree. A scaled down replica will be installed at GOSH itself.
You can see the tree in St Pancras station between now and early January.
