Have your say: Will you avoid the high street this Christmas due to COVID concerns?

Shoppers have been flooding back to the High Street after the latest national lockdown ended.

With only a few weeks to go to Christmas, crowds of customers queued outside stores like Primark and Nike Town in London’s Oxford Street on the first day non-essential shops were allowed to open in what was dubbed “Wild Wednesday”.

Initial data suggests that shopping destinations across England saw footfall surge by 64.5% on Wednesday morning, compared with the same day the previous week.

Business leaders are hoping that the high street will be given a boost in the run-up to Christmas as retailers try to recoup some of the lost revenue due to coronavirus restrictions that have left many struggling in 2020.

But despite a jump in footfall, data from retail research firm Springboard suggested that footfall across the country was still significantly lower than it was on the same day of last year.

The data shows footfall across shopping destinations in England was down 24.1% against the same period last year.

Watch: Shoppers flock to England’s reopened high streets as lockdown ends

A new survey also suggested that Brits plan to focus their Christmas shopping online this year - with many also saying they plan to cut back on their spending.

According to comparethemarket.com’s household financial confidence tracker, just under four in 10 families with children living at home (38%) are cutting back on their Christmas spending this year.

Nearly half (46%) who expect to cut back this Christmas said they simply cannot afford to spend as much as normal due to the financial hit from the coronavirus pandemic.

Nearly four in 10 (38%) of UK households surveyed said they will do all their Christmas shopping online this year – up significantly from the 9% of people who shopped exclusively online for Christmas gifts in 2019.

Watch: The COVID dos and don’ts of Christmas this year