REVELLERS boozed up in Britain’s best-loved fancy dress costumes as thousands hit bars and clubs for the first weekend of freedom.
Two men rocked full Homer and Marge Simpson looks while others went as oompa loompas, lifeguards and Tiger King’s Joe Exotic.
A girls’ group served up the Wimbledon spirit in their tennis kits while another copped police outfits for celebrations last night.
They were all taking part in the first Otley Run – a legendary 16 pub crawl in Leeds, West Yorkshire – since freedom day.
And party-goers across Britain later queued as early as 9pm to get into night clubs.
More than 2,000 people danced at the Astoria in Portsmouth, Hampshire until 3am.
Mr Myagi’s bar, which is part of Astoria’s complex, is hosting a pop-up vaccination clinic.
Owner Alistair Ritchie said, “Having had over 14000 through our doors so far this week, we’re overwhelmed by the support of our customers.
“This week has so far been surreal for us, we never expected to be so busy.”
The venue had 15,000 Red Bull cans and 2,156 bottles of vodka delivered in its first two days of reopening – and 10,742 pints were sunk.
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Thousands also scrambled to get into London’s legendary gay nightclub Heaven – despite it being evacuated the night before.
Fabric club in the capital was also bursting with those desperate for a good party as were clubs in other major cities including Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.
Fabric said earlier this week: “The weekend was always going to be a special one, marking our first big return in over 12 months.”
It comes after thousands hit the clubs as soon as they were allowed to open their doors again on Monday, when all covid rules were scrapped.
Britain’s 12,000 nightclubs have been shut for more than a year and a half before being reopened.
Nightclubber Chloe Waite, 37, said ahead of unlocking: “It’s a bit like New Year isn’t it? It’s going to be a special night.
“Whether we’ll have more of these in the future, who can say, I wouldn’t like to speculate.
“For me this is something we’re going to remember for a long, long time and we might not get the opportunity for a while.”
But vaccine passports will be essential for anyone wanting to get onto the dance floor from September in a bid to boost jabs for 18-30s.
Boris Johnson said this week: “We’re concerned, as they are in other countries, by the continuing risk posed by nightclubs.”
Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance added: “Right the way across the world we’ve seen nightclubs and venues where you’ve got lots of people indoors crowded together are a focus for potential super spreading events.
“There’s no question that is an environment in which spreading is easier, you’ve got lots of people quite close together, you’ve got the environment in which spreading becomes easier.
“I would expect that with opening of nightclubs we’ll continue to see an increase in cases and we will see outbreaks related to specific nightclubs as well.
“And that’s again why it’s so important that everybody comes and gets a vaccine so we can reduce the chance of spread and we can reduce the chance of consequences of that spread.”
