I'm looking for somewhere for us to go away this Christmas as we don't really fancy spending this one at home. Ideally, we'd like to do it on a (relative) budget, in a nice city we've not visited before. We were thinking somewhere in Scotland or Ireland but having looked into it, in Ireland especially, it sounds like nothing bar hotels will be open on Christmas Day itself.
Could anybody recommend any pleasant cities (UK preferred, but anywhere in Europe okay) where it won't be hard to find pubs and restaurants open on the 25th? Manchester is quite good for this, and we usually head out to a local pub for a couple of hours between presents and dinner, or have occasionally had Christmas dinner somewhere, but we'd like somewhere different.
Thanks in advance.