On the morning of Saturday, 9 November last year, Nick Ryder was at home in Hampshire, about to tuck into brunch with his family, when he got a call from Kim, who worked for him. “The police are here because Andover is gridlocked,” she told him.

Ryder, 63, is the UK managing director of Le Creuset, the French cookware brand. It was holding its twice-a-year sale at its warehouse in Andover, where it shifts unpopular pots or factory seconds. Previously these events had been ticketed, with only about 50 people being let in an hour. “But with this one, we thought we’re out of Covid, we won’t ticket it. Let’s just let people come. And it just went mad,” says Ryder.