Mile- long queues in frenzy at the shops
SHOPPERS unleashed from lockdown queued through the night in a desperate bid to grab Christmas bargains.
Tens of thousands braved plunging temperatures to queue for Primark stores after bosses announced they would stay open for the first 24 hours.
At Gateshead’s Metrocentre the line outside its sprawling branch was still a mile long at 9.30pm.
The mall is in a Tier 3 area – where pubs are unable to reopen – and the mass of shoppers was mirrored in other places which are also under the toughest restrictions.
The welcome sprees came as the British Retail Consortium revealed there was a devastating 65.5 per cent drop in footfall last month during the second lockdown, which saw all but essential shops close.
In Sheffield, which is also in Tier 3, 2,000 people were lining up to get inside Primark at midnight.
There were similar scenes in the Covid- ravaged cities of Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham. A security guard on duty outside Meadowhall, Sheffield, said shoppers joining the queue at midnight were being told they could face a five- hour wait to enter.
One, who emerged weighed down by bags, said: “I was told I’d not get in until 6am but it actually only took me about an hour. I can’t believe how many people are here.
“I came at midnight because I thought it would be quieter but it’s like the first day of the sales. It’s mad.”
Primark allowed its 11 most popular stores across the UK to stay open for 24 hours to coincide with the reopening of all non- essential shops in England following the fourweek lockdown.
The firm said the long hours would allow customers “more time to safely do their festive shopping”. But photos taken in branches showed people bunched together at checkouts.
The pictures angered owners of pubs and restaurants in Tier 3 locations, who have been forced to shut.
Landlady Lyndsey AcasterClarke this week admitted defeat in hopes to reopen her thriving Old Kings Arms pub in Leeds before Christmas.
She said: “I’m so deflated by these photographs. To see people huddled together trying to buy a pair of jeans at midnight is just heartbreaking.”
Boris Johnson has imposed strict tiers on 99 per cent of England.
That means 55 million people are banned from socialising with other households indoors for the foreseeable apart from five days at Christmas.
Only Cornwall, the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly have been placed in the lightertouch Tier 1.
Despite last month’s grim figures, footfall in town and city shopping districts surged by
64.5 per cent on Wednesday, according to retail research firm Springboard.
Market towns saw the biggest boost with a 96.8 per cent rise in shoppers, while numbers in the London’s West End jumped by 59.4 per cent.
However, they still remain significantly lower than on the same day last year.
And after the bleak news for the high street, with the collapse of Arcadia, Debenhams and Bonmarche, other retailers face an anxious run- up to Christmas.
Selfridges’ director Maeve Wall said: “It’s definitely a sad period of time and particularly to hear so many potential job losses.”
Retail consultant Andy Sumpter said: “Not even Black Friday could loosen the grim grip of lockdown, which wiped out footfall on the high street in November.
“Forced to close, just at the time they needed to capitalise on Christmas trade, the real test now comes as those retailers can reopen.
“They have already invested heavily in keeping shoppers safe – now they are reliant on the public investing in them by voting with their feet.”