Before today I could not imagine why people would wake up in the early hours of the morning to line up outside of a shopping centre. But when I arrived at the Victoria Centre at around 5.20am a line of more than 200 people had formed in the darkness for Next's post-Christmas sale, with the queue next to Urban Outfitters growing ahead of the shopping centre's opening at 6am.
Despite the large crowds involved, there were no hectic scenes as workers opened the doors and signalled the queue forward, despite one or two half-hearted jogs towards Next, where the line halted again. The real action came when the Next shutters went up and the shoppers were allowed to filter in, with customers racing to clothing rails and throwing garments into their red bags.
While some used a scattergun method of grabbing as much as they could and then sorting through the contents in a quiet corner, parents described methodically planning their approach to sort coats and jackets for next year, while others had just swooped in opportunistically. Awadh Salim, 53, a technician from Aspley, was the first person to get through the tills and out of the shop.
