Everyone will be familiar with the last-minute panic of trying to find the perfect Christmas present and making a frenzied dash to the shops.
This year is no different, as shoppers have taken to the streets across the UK to stock up on what they need with just two days to go.
But it appears the last minute shopper never learns – as fascinating unearthed images from the 1980s and 1990s show how the Great British High Street inevitably becomes packed with people each year in the final days before Christmas.
The pictures show bustling crowds in London‘s Oxford Street and Hamleys Toy Store frantically trying to get their shopping done.
Meanwhile shoppers in Selfridges can be seen forming an organised queue to buy the new Spice Girls dolls in 1997, while a similar line can be seen forming outside Toys ‘R Us in Brent Cross that year.
And it’s not just London – as huge gatherings can be seen lining the streets of Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow in a last-minute dash to the high street.
Despite the rise of online shopping, and customers tending to turn away from due to empty stores and soaring parking costs, it appears the appeal of the high street at Christmas time remains the quintessential way to get into the festive spirit.
That is, if you don’t mind the crowds – or the risk of everything selling out if leaving it all to the last minute.
These very nostalgic images will take you on a journey back in time ahead of Christmas.
It appears the last minute shopper never learns as Brits always make a last-minute dash to the shops. Pictured: Oxford Street in 1993
Fascinating unearthed images from the 1990s and 1980s show the last-minute Christmas shopping rush. Pictured: Bargain hunters in Woolworths in Holyhead
It was spend, spend, spend all the way at Marks and Spencer on Christmas Eve 1993
Huge gatherings can be seen lining the streets of Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow (pictured, in 1994)
The pictures show bustling crowds in London ‘s Oxford Street and Hamleys Toy Store (pictured, 1992)
Shoppers take advantage of twenty-four hour shopping at the Tesco superstore in Brent Cross in the early hours of the morning
Liverpool’s Cavern Walks saw plenty of window shoppers on December 3, 1984
Thousands of people watch the Christmas lights being switched on on Church Street, Liverpool in 1986
Oxford Street has always been the place to go for Christmas shopping – but not if you want to avoid crowds. Pictured in 1993
Christmas lights being switched on in Broad Street Mall, Reading, in 1998
Terry Wogan switches on the Christmas lights on Oxford Street in 1998
Toy shop Hamleys is a staple for Christmas shopping in London. Pictured in 1992
It’s busy inside – and this is after queueing to get in in the first place. Pictured: Queues outside Hamleys in 1993
Small children look wide-eyed into Fenwick’s window display in November 1987
Christmas shopping on Market Street by the Arndale Centre in Manchester in 1986
One very nostalgic picture shows shoppers queueing for the new Teletubby dolls outside Toys R Us in Brent Cross, London, 1997
Shoppers in Oxford Street in 1983 with bags full of clothes and Christmas shopping
Christmas shoppers in Selfridges on Oxford Street hoping for their chance to buy the new Spice Girl dolls in 1997
Church Street in Liverpool on December 7, 1993 features in the nostalgic set of images
Christmas shopping at Owen Owen department store in Coventry – with gift packs of toiletries and perfumes proving popular
