Queues from 5.30am at Braehead as Boxing Day sales kick off

Peter Beagley, centre director at Braehead, near Glasgow said: “The tills were ringing in stores at the Braehead Centre today as people headed out to the sales before dawn.

“Hitting the shops on Boxing Day is as traditional as turkey, stuffing and Brussels sprouts and this year was no different.

“With staff on hand to ensure social distancing was maintained, we opened the centre three hours earlier than our usual 10am, with some stores - including Next and JD Sports - opening their doors at 7am.

“Other stores like Pandora, Lush, Jack and Jones and The Perfume Shop opened an hour earlier than usual at 9am.

“There was a queue of around 200 hardy, socially-distanced souls waiting from 5.30am for the doors of Next and JD Sports to open to open.

“We were busy throughout the rest of the day and we had staff directing traffic in the car parks to make it easier for visitors to find a place to park in one of our 6500 parking spaces.”

The scenes came as consumer website money.co.uk predicted people across the UK were abandoning the high street to shop online due to Omicron cases soaring and additional restrictions put in place.

James Andrews, senior personal finance writer at money.co.uk, said: “With Omicron cases soaring and additional restrictions expected in the coming days, it’s no surprise that Brits are ditching the high street to shop online."

However, separate research into 2,000 adults across the UK showed shoppers overall plan to spend an average of £247 each in the end-of-year sales – an increase of £85 on last year.