IT TAKES pure grit and determination to take to the shopping battleground on the first day of the end-of-year sales - and no more so than in the much-anticipated Next sale.

More than 500 bargain-hunters braved the bitter bank holiday temperatures yesterday to be outside WestQuay shopping centre in time for the opening of the Next doors at an unsociable 5am.

Many of those had begun queuing from 4am, desperate for that perfect purchase.

One Hampshire resident braved not one but two Next sales in search of a few bargains.

Julie Rolls, 39, of Chandler's Ford, got up at 6am and headed for the Eastleigh branch for a rifle through the racks before moving on to WestQuay to make sure she hadn't missed out on anything there.

"I picked up a few bargains," she said. "Thankfully the coat I had bought before Christmas was not in the sale. I would have been gutted!"

Julie was one of more than 100,000 shoppers expected to enter the doors of WestQuay throughout the day for the start of the sales season, visiting the many stores offering discounts of up to 70 per cent.

Three hours after the Next sale kicked off, at 8am, the doors of Marks & Spencer were opened, with 2,000 shoppers now inside WestQuay eager to spend their gift vouchers, and any cash left over from the pre-Christmas rush.

By 9am the queues had moved to the doors of John Lewis, with as many as 500 shoppers hoping to be the first to bag a bargain when the store opened at 9.30am.

"It was a very busy start," said John Lewis's managing director, Peter Turner.

"As soon as we opened hundreds of people were crowded round our linen department.

"It was a slow build-up to Christmas, but across the country our sales figures have been close to those of last year," he added.

General manager of WestQuay, Andy Collyer, said: "Continuing to build on the successes of previous years, we are really pleased that once again the sales have got off to such a great start.

"With our extensive range of retailers and the extended bank holiday period, we are confident that WestQuay will continue to attract visitors throughout the sales period and well into the new year."

The Mall Marlands also saw a busy start to the sales, with up to 30,000 shoppers expected through the doors yesterday.

Operations manager, Andy Diaz, said: "We have been very busy over the Christmas period, as we expected to be."