Festive shopping: All you need to know

Hundreds of thousands of bargain hunters have swarmed into shopping centres across the region today as the annual post-Christmas sales got into swing.

At Highcross Shopping Centre in Leicester, bosses reported one of their most successful Christmas seasons on record, with 80,000 shoppers predicted to descend on the centre to bag a bargain.

That is up four per cent on last year.

Centre general manager Jo Tallack said they were on track for a 2.5 per cent sales growth for Boxing Day alone, as shoppers had been queuing since before 5am to be among the first to raid the racks.

Meanwhile in Birmingham, the Bullring was braced for an estimated 200,000 eager shoppers - with almost 2,000 already lining up outside the doors from half past midnight for the popular Next sale.

A further 150,000 people are expected to hit day two of the sales tomorrow.

In Nottingham, more than 100,000 shoppers were expected to hit both the Victoria Centre and the Broadmarsh Centre on the hunt for cut-price clothing.

The Next sale was a major focal point again, with around 3,000 people queuing from 1am ahead of the 6am opening time.

Hoards of shoppers queued from the early hours to race through the doors of Leicester's Highcross Shopping Centre to bag a Boxing Day bargain.

As the sales began, hundreds of people armed themselves with plastic bags, trollies and buggies and raced through the doors when they opened at 6am.

One mother piled her baby's buggy so high with cut-price clothing from Next that her child could only just be seen through the mound.

And others appeared to simply grab as much as they could, walking off with armfuls and clear bin bags full of discount items.