London has grown to become a much more 24 hour city, especially over the last 20 years. I remember when the legislation was passed by government with the Sunday trading act in 1994, with shops being able to open on a Sunday from 10 am to 6pm, and back then I remember feeling like London was beginning to morph into the restless neverending retail behemoth that it is now. It wasn't until 2005 when I first lived in central London, and I went for a walk on Christmas Day that I first experienced London's streets this quiet. Sundays were 'quieter' than the weekdays but it still was nowhere near what it used to be like back in the 1980's when practically everything was closed. Going to the supermarket or shopping for clothes was completely unheard of. You probably went out to the newsagents to get a paper and that was about it.

Even the pubs had restricted hours.