Millions of Brits braved the cold as they joined crowds of other dedicated shoppers to battle it out for the best Boxing Day bargains.
Sale shoppers queued through the night ready for doors to open as early as 6am at Next stores around the country, from Liverpool to London’s Oxford Street.
Twenty-three million people are expected to crowd swarm high streets and crowd shopping centres up and down the country today – one in every two adults.
They’re expected to splash out £4.5billion in total, far exceeding the Black Friday (£2.6billion) and ‘last Saturday before Christmas’ £1.67billion spends.
Millions of Brits are braving cold and miserable weather to find the best Boxing Day bargains on the high street this morning. Dedicated sales shoppers are pictured with their Next shopping bags in Liverpool city centre after stores opened at 6am
People queued up through the night with security guards on duty from 3am to coordinate crowds lining up for the famous Next Boxing Day Sale. Here they wait eagerly outside the Silverlink Retail Park in North Tyneside
On London’s Oxford Street tourists are pictured queuing for the Next Boxing Day Sale. Foreign visitors are expected to be among the biggest spenders, with some splashing out over £1,000 each
In Leeds (pictured) shopping centres were full of hopeful bargain hunters queuing up for stores to open at 6am
While sales at most stores begin at 9am, supermarkets like Sainsbury’s decided to let crowds in earlier at 8am.
Tourists are expected to be among the biggest spenders, with foreign visitors from countries like China thought to be spending over £1,000 each.
Barclaycard’s poll found months of ‘feeling the squeeze’ this year is resulting in many consumers looking forward to the sales to ease their budgets.
Paul Lockstone, managing director at Barclaycard, said: ‘Last year, Black Friday overshadowed Boxing Day sales as many retailers struggled to maintain consumer interest in what has become a month-long discounting event.
‘This year, however, value-seeking consumers appear to be more eager to buy cut-price items across both sales periods as they try to combat rising prices.’
At the Trinity shopping centre in Leeds, every floor was filled with shoppers young and old hoping to find a bargain
In Cardiff, shoppers lined the streets as early as 1am to make sure they were ready for Next doors opening at 6am. Just half an hour afterwards some had already bagged their bargains and were on their way home
Next drew large crowds in central London (pictured) this morning as the bright lights of its window displayed lured thousands out of bed across the capital