Anyone emerging from the London Underground into the wintry drizzle on London’s main shopping street on Friday morning would have been struck by two things – how many shops were open and how few people were in them.

Oxford Street retailers, desperate to trigger a pre-Christmas rush, had opened at 7am promising shoppers “VIP treatment” and “the real posh factor”. There were promises of goody bags, a free breakfast and the odd glass of Bucks Fizz, not to mention discounts of up to 50 per cent at some stores.