Queues at the Westgate Centre as shoppers hit Boxing Day sales in Oxford

SHOPPERS hit the Boxing Day sales in Oxford city centre this morning.

Sunday opening times meant stores opened their doors later than usual. At 10.30am, queues could be seen outside clothes chain River Island and upmarket toiletries store Lush in the Westgate Centre.

Cabbie Fuad Mahmud, 54, said: “We’re just here for the bargains. We don’t celebrate Christmas, so it was quiet. We’re taxi drivers so we’ve just come to have a look, have a break and to stretch our legs.”

Boxing Day sales at the Westgate and High Street, Oxford, on December 26, 2021

Shoppers in the Westgate Centre, Oxford, on Boxing Day 2021

Boxing Day sales at the Westgate and High Street, Oxford, on December 26, 2021

Ahmed Juliant, 35, said: “We’ll have a look. It seems a bit empty at the moment.”

“We’re after a bargain,” Ellen Downey, 22, said.

Asked if there were many deals to be had, Laura Friend, 54, said: “Not as much as it used to be. You used to get more money off. Everybody can sell online now.”

Ahead of the sales, a poll by Barclaycard Payments suggested that bargain-hunters planned to spend an average of £247 each in the end-of-year sales, an increase of £85 on last year.

Almost half - 45 per cent - of those questioned say they will shop less frequently in stores over the sales period and four in 10 say they will shop online in an effort to avoid queues and crowds, the PA news agency reported. A third said they generally preferred shopping online.

Thames Valley Police warned those looking for a bargain online to use their common sense. Cyber security adviser Mark Godsland said: “When you think about it, if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is a fraud."

Away from the high street, families and dog owners were walking off Christmas Lunch in Port Meadow and Christ Church Meadows.