Nation’s streets have been abandoned as UK goes into lockdown (Picture: AFP / Getty)

Britain has turned into a ghost town overnight after Boris Johnson decided to shut down pubs, clubs, restaurants and cafes.

People have been taking eerie photos of the abandoned cities as the UK goes into lockdown.

Streets are no longer filled with traffic, car parks are being left empty and even train stations only have a handful of people in them.

Motorways barely have any traffic on them while pub landlords have been putting up their closed signs.


However, there was some life, seeing people out for a jog in Hyde Park, while business continued at the outdoor Portobello Road market.



The images come after the Prime Minister took drastic measures and ordered public facilities to close on Friday night.

Hyde Park had a handful of people in it (Picture: REUTERS)

Oxford Street was empty (Picture: Rex)

M62 was abandoned (Picture: PA Wire)

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He said the new arrangements were needed to prevent the NHS coming under unsustainable pressure from Covid-19.

Boris added that ‘physically we need to keep people apart’ and that the nation’s economy and the lives of thousands of people depended on stopping the virus from spreading.

New Cross, south London, is seeing pubs close down (Picture: PA)

The Coat and Badge pub in West Putney has stacked up their chairs (Picture: Getty Images)

Canary Wharf tube station was quiet (Picture: EPA)

Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham had been left abandoned (Picture: SWNS)

Mr Johnson said: ‘Now we are going to defeat this disease with a huge national effort to slow the spread by reducing unnecessary social contact.

‘We are telling pubs, bars, and restaurants to close tonight and not open tomorrow.’

The order also applies to nightclubs, theatres, gyms and leisure centres, however, restaurants can still provide takeaway services.

Despite gyms closing down, chains have said that they’ll suspend their membership payments and launch online classes to keep people in quarantine healthy.

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