Border’s watering holes expect surge in Scots

On the border’s western edge, Carlisle was also seeing an upturn in Scottish-accented folk. Grahame Vallance, 58, who runs the Coach and Horses pub in Carlisle, just eight miles from the border, said: “The bar will be totally full. I’m aiming for 50-50, Scottish and English drinkers. I’ve noticed a lot more Scottish people coming in the pub – a lot more Rangers scarfs, Celtic scarfs.”

“When they do come into the pub initially from Scotland, they’re wearing their masks, and they’re asking if they can take them off.”

He was planning a socially distanced Auld Lang Syne at midnight.

England’s border with Wales was also besieged. Or at least Bristol’s Temple Meads station was busy from lunchtime onwards with large groups of revellers arriving from Cardiff Central.

One group of six, from Cardiff, said they had made the dash across the border because “you have to go out on New Years Eve”. They had begun drinking by 2pm.

Locals in the fortified Welsh border town of Chepstow were heading out to pubs in the nearby Forest of Dean while pubs and clubs in Chester, close to Wrexham, had seen a surge in bookings from Welsh neighbours. Zoe Ellis, co-owner of Palm Cocktail Bar, in Chester, said: “It’s to be expected; of course people from Wales, Wrexham way are going to come over to Chester.”

England’s New Year’s Day swims cancelled

Not that England was all fun and games. New Year’s Day swims have been cancelled over Covid-19 concerns, including the mass swim at Caswand swim near Plymouth, which attracts thousands of participants. “It is with regret that we have decided to cancel the New Year’s Day Dip at Cawsand beach 1st Jan 2022, due to Covid,” said a spokesman, “At present it seems the only sensible option and our highest priority must be to keep people safe.”

In Staines-on-Thames, in Surrey, police issued a dispersal order on Friday for the whole of the town centre to prevent crowds from congregating. A spokesman for Surrey Police said: “There has been an increase in anti-social behaviour in the area during the festive period and this order has been put in place to ensure everyone’s safety during New Year’s Eve.”

The Met Office said Britain had officially recorded its hottest New Year’s Eve on record with temperatures already reaching 14.9 degrees in Ryehill, East Yorkshire, at 11am, beating the previous record of 14.8 degrees in Colwyn Bay, Wales, set in 2011. The record was beaten again when a temperature of 15.8C (60.4F) was recorded in Merryfield in Somerset.

The popular ice rink at Somerset House in central London was shut because of the warm weather. “As we have had several days of warm ambient temperature, the quality of the ice is not sufficient to ensure the safety of our customers,” organisers said in a statement.