The number of people heading out to shops across Britain increased by 1.5 per cent last week from the previous week, a fourth straight week of rises, indicating that Britons are increasingly tiring of lockdown, Reuters has reported, quoting industry data.

Market researcher Springboard said that while footfall in high streets declined by 1.7pc in the week to February 13 versus the previous week, there were rises of 3.9pc in shopping centres and 6.1pc in retail parks.

"Despite Beast from the East 2 hitting virtually all of the UK at some point last week, footfall across retail destinations continued to rise from the week before,” said Springboard director Diane Wehrle, referring to bitterly cold and snowy weather.