In Pictures: The first UK COVID lockdown, four years on

Above: An empty Westminster Bridge overlooking the Houses of Parliament on 23rd March 2020. 

Westminster Bridge is one of the most chaotic spots in London, often gridlocked with traffic with its pavements full of street vendors and tourists taking selfies of Parliament. The decision to go into lockdown made by the politicians who inhabit Westminster turned the surrounding area into a ghost town.

Above: An empty Oxford Circus in Oxford Street, London on 23rd March 2020.

The top shopping street in London and the rest of Europe was emptied as the non-essential businesses were closed and shoppers ordered to stay at home.

Above: An empty London Waterloo station platform on 23rd March 2020.

Waterloo Station handles almost 60 million passengers per year. With all non-essential travel banned at the start of lockdown and train services greatly reduced, Waterloo Station, once full of Monday commuters on the day lockdown was announced, was eerily quiet.

Above: Leicester Square, London, under lockdown on 23rd March 2020.

The centre of the West End, Leicester Square, which borders China Town and Soho, is home to the capital’s best entertainment venues which were all closed when lockdown was announced.

Above: An almost empty Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column in London on 23rd March 2020.

Built as a memorial to Britain’s victory at the eponymous Battle. On 23rd March, Nelson surveyed an almost deserted Trafalgar Square.

Above: A quiet Heathrow Airport in London on 31st March 2020.

While flights continued throughout lockdown, travel restrictions meant the number of flights were reduced and the amount of people visiting airports like Heathrow was significantly down on previous years.

Above: An empty A55 in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 31st March 2020.

The national lockdown announced on 23rd March applied to the four regions of the United Kingdom with the residents of Belfast following stay at home orders.

Above: A photograph of an empty Ingram Street in Glasgow city centre on 4th April 2020.

Glasgow’s elegant Ingram Street, by the historic George Square, is a major thoroughfare in Scotland’s biggest city, but in early April, the street was completely deserted.

Above: An empty Lancaster Market Square and the entrance to Lancaster City Museum.

Across the UK, all non-essential businesses were shut including museums, such as the Lancaster City Museum where visitors can learn all about the history of Lancaster, one of England’s Heritage Cities.

Above: ASDA in Killingbeck, Leeds on 10th April 2020. People queuing in the car park of the supermarket, following social distancing rules.

In the run-up to lockdown, panic buying gripped the nation with essential items stripped from the shelves. To slow the spread of the virus, numbers were limited in supermarkets during lockdown, leading to scenes of patient shoppers queuing for their turn to do the weekly shop.

Above: A quiet Piccadilly Circus on 11th April 2020.

Echoing, Vera Lynn’s wartime anthem, ‘We’ll Meet Again’, the Queen’s coronavirus speech, played here on the main screen in Piccadilly Circus, reassured an anxious nation.

Above: Kingston upon Hull in Yorkshire on 11th April 2020.

As the lockdown continued, city centres across the country became virtually abandoned.

Above: A quiet Hillingdon Circus, A40.

Motorways across Britain were cleared of traffic with non-essential travel banned and police patrols on the lookout for rule-breakers.

Above: Glossop Road in Sheffield, empty during the first lockdown on 19th April 2020.

No city in the United Kingdom escaped from lockdown, and the economic fallout is still being felt to this day across the country.

Above: The M1 motorway in Nottinghamshire on 19th April 2020.

At the beginning of lockdown, police would stop drivers and fine those whose journey was deemed non-essential.

Above: An empty Tyne Bridge looking towards Newcastle, during a usually busy time on 4th May 2020.

The Grade-II-listed Tyne Bridge that connects Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead is an iconic landmark of the Northeast and should have been full of traffic in early May. 

Above: An empty St Mary Street in Cardiff, Wales, on 25th May 2020.

As health is a devolved matter, the Welsh Assembly brought in their own policies to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. However, all the four nations of the United Kingdom went into lockdown on 23rd March 2020.