Retailers enjoyed bumper Boxing Day sales with one department store clocking up record figures.

Selfridges saw its best Boxing Day yet with a 10% rise on last year, and by 1pm menswear in the London store had taken more than £1m.

The Oxford Street branch was expected to attract around 150,000 shoppers and thousands more went to branches in Birmingham and Manchester.

Stewards were employed to keep crowds under control in London, with a separate queue for customers hoping to buy Gucci at discount prices.

Bargain-hungry shoppers queued from the early hours at centres across the country for their chance to bag discounts.

Capital Shopping Centres (CSC), which owns 14 shopping sites across the country, said it was expecting the next few days to be busy.

Commercial director Trevor Pereira said: "Customers have been flooding through our 14 centres' doors from the early hours.

"Shoppers have been planning their sale purchases before the VAT hike comes into effect, and as a consequence we are extremely busy.

Staff at Lakeside shopping centre in Essex said drivers arrived as early as 5am to get to its branch of Next which opened an hour later.

General manager of the mall Paul Lancaster said: "With Boxing Day falling on a Saturday we always expected the start of this year's sales to be really popular."

More than 125,000 shoppers were expected at Bluewater Shopping Centre in Greenhithe, Kent, on the first of the three busiest days of the year for the mall.

The 12,000 regular car parking spaces at the Meadowhall shopping centre, near Sheffield, were virtually full at 11am and visitor numbers were expected to top 100,000.

The Bullring in Birmingham saw thousands of shoppers queuing outside from 4am, with more than 9,000 passing through in the following five hours.

General manager Tim Walley said: "We are expecting a further 200,000 visitors on Bank Holiday Monday, with the same expected the following day as shoppers take advantage of the last few days before the VAT increase on January 1."

John Lewis and Marks & Spencer will open their doors later after staying shut on Boxing Day.

The pair of high street giants launched their online sales a few days ago.

Initial signs indicate retailers have enjoyed a much better Christmas this year than last.

sky.com