Capital shops cashing in on relaxed rules
It was a tale of two Covid cities in Scotland yesterday as new lockdown rules kicked in.
Glasgow was a ghost town with deserted streets and shuttered shops following the introduction of Level 4 restrictions the previous day.
However, at the other end of the M8 motorway, Princes Street in Edinburgh was swamped with Christmas shoppers just over a month before December 25. Glasgow’s Queen Street Station, which has recently undergone a £120million revamp, re was quiet qu after people pe in the city were we warned they could co be arrested for non-essential travel tra outside tier zones. zon
Train T carriages to EEdinburgh were also empty, with few willing to take the risk to break lockdown lock travel bans. bans
Glasgow Gl was eerily quiet throughout throu the day, apart from a few dozen doze protestors who tturned out at George Georg Square to rally againsta the
Covid vaccine. It was in stark contrast to chaotic scenes last weekend where people queued outside popular retailers including Primark and TK Maxx.
Meanwhile in Edinburgh, which has been placed under the lower Level 3 restrictions, shops cashed in.
Carefree consumers made the most of less harsh restrictions by spending the afternoon buying festive gifts and relaxing in coffee shops.
The contrast between Scotland’s two biggest cities came after Nicola Sturgeon told Glaswegians not to travel to Edinburgh for Christmas shopping.
She said: “Do not, if you live in Glasgow as I do, travel to Edinburgh to go shopping because not only will you be breaking the law in doing that, you’ll also be risking taking the virus to Edinburgh and putting people there at risk.
“That’s the reality. It sounds harsh. It sounds pretty blunt given what we face right now.
“But also we know what we can all do to try to limit the risks
“I think it’s important for me to be blunt and straight with people. So that’s what I’m seeking to do.”