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Londoners flocked to Oxford Circus for an “impromptu party” on Friday night when the second curfew at 10pm brought crowds into the streets.
Shocking images posted on social media showed large crowds dancing and bumping into each other while listening to loud music, with no apparent social distancing in sight.
Riotous crowds filled the streets and overflowed onto West End roads as a curfew was implemented for the second night in a row, introduced in an attempt to address rising rates of coronavirus.
Journalist Charlie Haynes tweeted: “Oxford Circus has turned into an impromptu party,” adding: “It really is packed here.”
Others posted images of bustling tube stations on the Piccadilly line as drinkers headed home at the same time.
It came as London became an “area of concern”, with all 33 boroughs included on the national Covid-19 watch list.
Londoners flooded the streets as the clock struck 10pm last night (PA)
Under the new regulations, certain businesses such as restaurants and pubs must close between 10 pm and 5 am and must only operate with table service.
This also applies to places like social clubs, casinos, bowling alleys, bingo halls, game rooms, and other indoor recreational facilities.
Some had warned that the 10 p.m. cutoff would become a stinging point for crowds to gather, with equally busy scenes performed in Soho on Thursday night. Wales have allowed drinkers a 20-minute window to finish after 10pm to stagger tee times.
The packed scenes were all the rage online. “We will be completely blocked next week,” wrote one Twitter user.
Another agreed, furious: “This is exactly why we (London) will be completely closed next Friday with the bars completely closed. All because people cannot take any personal responsibility!”
Others called the crowds “irresponsible”, “insane” and “selfish covidiots.”
Professor Graham Medley, an expert on the government’s scientific advisory committee (Sage), said he had “never heard” of the curfew during panel meetings.
His comments come after another Sage member, Professor John Edmunds, said the 10 pm curfew was “quite trivial” and said it will “have very little impact on the epidemic.”
The measures in England are less draconian than those in Scotland, where households are prohibited from mixing indoors.
The streets of Soho were busy last night when Londoners were kicked out of pubs (PA)
But the latest local lockdown restrictions in Wigan, Stockport, Blackpool, Leeds, Cardiff and Swansea mean that a quarter of the UK’s population – 17 million people – are now under tighter restrictions.
Boris Johnson’s latest coronavirus crackdown, announced earlier this week, has seen the number of shoppers and diners fall by around a fifth in a hammer blow to central London’s painful recovery from the lockdown.
Figures seen by Standard show that the 10 pm curfew for restaurants and pubs, combined with the advice to work from home, had an immediate impact that will increase the threat to West End and City businesses.
On Wednesday, the day after the prime minister announced the measures in a grim televised speech, the number of people in the West End fell 18 percent on the same day last week, in one of the biggest drops ever recorded. .
At Piccadilly Circus, a global emblem of London’s vibrancy, the influx was down 26 percent according to figures from the Heart of London business group.
