LONDON • Shoppers returned to England’s high streets on Wednesday as shops reopened following the end of a four-week coronavirus lockdown.

On a day dubbed “Wild Wednesday” because of an expectation of huge numbers of shoppers, customers wearing masks and laden with bags flocked to stores in Oxford Street in central London.

One customer, Ms Charlotte Cobb, told Agence France-Presse the latest lockdown had been “tricky”, but said she was “just so happy to be back”. “With Christmas, it’s just brilliant,” she said. “I’m really excited.”

At Selfridges’ flagship department store, staff greeted crowds with applause, and a sequinned Santa Claus danced under glittering silver disco balls as customers shopped.

Store director Maeve Wall said it was a Christmas “like no other”, and “certainly not one we would have anticipated”.

“It’s about making the experience as pleasurable as we can for customers, so we will maintain the fun and excitement,” she added.

The easing of restrictions has come as a relief to the hard-hit retail industry. Non-essential shops were forced to close, compounding losses during a lockdown from March to June.

But a new regional system for curbing the spread of the coronavirus is now in place, with parts of the country in the highest of three tiers still effectively shuttered.

The system – designed to allow families and friends to gather at Christmas – has been criticised as doing little to reinstate cherished freedoms and help the economy.

Most of England’s 55 million population have gone straight into tier two or three – depending on local infection rates – limiting household mixing and the reopening of the hospitality sector.

Just 1 per cent of places in the country – the south-west county of Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight in the south – are in the least restrictive tier one.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, himself a Covid-19 survivor, succeeded in winning a vote on the measures in Parliament on Tuesday night, despite opposition within his own Conservative ranks.

ECONOMIC CONCERNS

Hopes that life could return to normal came a step closer after Britain announced approval had been given to roll out Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 jab from next week.

The government, under pressure after 59,000 deaths in the outbreak, hopes to use it and other vaccines due to be given the green light alongside rapid community testing.

London – Britain’s capital and driving force of the economy – is in tier two, meaning pubs where food is served and restaurants can reopen, with social distancing rules.

But in tier-three areas – with some 23 million people and Britain’s second-largest city, Birmingham – hospitality venues will remain closed except for takeaways.

The curbs have prompted fresh concerns for the economy, which Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said is facing an 11.3 per cent contraction this year – the worst in 300 years.

Those fears were stoked further this week by the collapse of retail group Arcadia, which owns popular high-street stores Topshop and Burton, and the Debenhams chain.

They have been forced into administration, blaming the impact of coronavirus restrictions on trade already under pressure from online competitors.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE