Black Friday 2018: UK shopping streets deserted as Brits hunt for bargains online instead

High streets and shopping centres up and down the UK looked deserted today as savvy Black Friday bargain hunters chose to shop online instead .

Online retailers reported heavier than expected spending through the night and into the morning but high streets and shopping centres got off to a slow start.

Many London stores opened early to attract bargain hunters, although there was not the early stampede of shoppers seen in previous years. Shops in Westfield were offering between a third and half off major brands or free gifts.

British shoppers were forecast to spend more than £1.5 billion in a single day in the scramble for deals.

The relative sparse early turnout in London was in marked contrast to frenzied scenes elsewhere in the world. In Sao Paulo in Brazil customers fought over huge flat-screen televisions while Macy’s flagship store in New York also was crammed with bargain-hunters.

In previous years, early morning shoppers had queued up for hours to get into shopping centres in the UK for Black Friday deals but there did not appear to be any crowds this year.

The Westfield shopping centre in Shepherd's Bush, Bluewater in Kent and high streets in Glasgow and London looked completely empty.

Comparable to Boxing Day sales, Black Friday shopping deals is a tradition that has swept the country after first starting in America.

Deals on electronic goods, holidays and toys can be found in stores and online with people splashing more cash each year.

Meanwhile, customers were pictured fighting over huge flat-screen televisions in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

And the hallways of Macy's flagship store on 34th street, in New York, were also crammed with shoppers looking for the best money-saving buys.

An enormous crowd of people were also seen waiting outside a Nike store in Thessaloniki, Greece, early on Friday