IT WAS a bumper day of Black Friday shopping at the Westgate Centre yesterday as the retail outlet marked one month since it reopened.

Crowds flocked to the shopping centre, though there were no scenes of early morning queues and the traffic across the city remained largely unaffected.

For many shoppers it seemed it was the lure of starting Christmas shopping early rather than the discount event, imported from the US, that drew them in.

Keith and Kerry Davies, from Drayton, were buying presents for their four children,

Mrs Davies, 36, said: "When we realised it was Black Friday we thought it would be a nightmare but it has been surprisingly quiet actually."

Her husband, 43, added: "I think it's much more of a thing for electrical goods and deals online."

Laura Sargison, assistant manager at The Body Shop said customers had been a mix of those eager to take advantage of the store’s Black Friday 40 per cent discount and those doing early festive shopping.

She said: “It was quite quiet this morning but it quickly got much busier and in the last hour our takings are triple this time last week.

"I think it is largely Christmas shopping but incentivised by the deals."

Tom Adams, from The White Stuff, added: "We've had about as many people as we expected but Black Friday is more a week long event now so you don't see the big rush on one day anymore."

Another draw for shoppers was getting a look around the £440m refurbishment.

Analyst Debbie James, in reversal of the usual trend, had come from London for the day to do some shopping at Westgate, saying: "It's just as good as anything in London and has been really well done."

Helen Miles from Milton, added: "I think it's an incredible transformation and it's been great to see so many people out shopping today - I haven't seen this many in the town centre in a long time."

Meanwhile, Bicester Village managed to once again avoid a repeat of the traffic chaos that occurred on Black Friday in 2014 when the town's roads were gridlocked and cars abandoned on grass verges by shoppers heading to retail outlet.

For the past three years Bicester Village has not officially taking part in Black Friday promotions.

That decision, along with improvements to the roads network as part of last month's expansion, appeared to be successful.