Record start to Bluewater Boxing Day sales
One of the UK's largest shopping centres has reported more Boxing Day visitors than ever before.
The first bargain-hunters arrived at Bluewater in Kent at about 01:00 GMT with more than 130,000 people visiting the centre on Wednesday.
The centre, which opened in 1999, said it was expecting about 900,000 visitors between Boxing Day and New Year's Eve.
Fashion and footwear retailers reported growth in sales of more than 10% over Boxing Day 2011.
Robert Goodman, Bluewater's general manager said: "Boxing Day was as busy as ever at Bluewater, with guests queuing from 1am to secure a bargain the minute the first store opened at 6am."
On Christmas Eve, footfall at Bluewater was up by 20% compared with the previous year.