With all non-essential shops shut for the last four Saturdays, around £1.5billion is expected to be spent this weekend as Christmas shopping goes supercharged.

It comes after thousands of drinkers in tier two areas made the most of rules being eased slightly on Friday night – allowing them to go to the pub, if they ate a substantial meal.

Big queues have been seen outside shops across the country with retailers offering discounts to try to shift their stock in a shorter space of time.

Retailers are hoping for a strong finish to the year after the pandemic created turmoil in the sector.

Non-essential shops have been forced to close for long periods twice while they’ve also been hit by other factors including a lack of people commuting into city centres.

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