New Year’s Eve revellers in England take to streets despite Omicron concerns

Partygoers gather in city centres across the country to welcome 2022 in contrast to quiet Christmas

England's New Year's Eve celebrations on Friday were not quite the damp squib many were expecting, with partygoers taking to city centres across the country to celebrate the end of 2021.

In Leeds, queues of revellers lined the streets, in stark contrast to the Christmas period, when the city centre had been virtually empty because of concerns over the highly infectious Omicron variant.