Shops selling sledges and winter weather gear found customers queueing outside their doors – despite the cold.

Shoe shop English Leathers in Staple Hill sold around £2,500 of wellies in two days.

Owner Paul Hooper, 45, said: "We have pretty much sold nothing but wellingtons for the last two days."

Tanya Marriott, owner of Soleution shoe shop which has branches in Clifton and Portishead, said: "Many customers were asking for the boots with the extra lining of fluffy material to keep their feet warm."

Totally Toys in Gloucester Road had a queue of people waiting in the snow for the shop to open. As soon as store owner Paul Carpenter arrived from his home in Clevedon and opened up, he sold 30 sledges.

The red and blue plastic sledges were on sale for £10 and £14.

Mr Carpenter said: "I wish that we could have got more sledges in, but they are like gold dust. We could have sold many times more than we did. We are still getting lots of calls."

Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports on Whiteladies Road reported strong sales of socks, shoes, hats and gloves in the past few days.

Owner Mark Brigham said: "Socks are always a winner in this weather. People set off for work in leather shoes and when they arrive they're all wet."

Mark Nunn, who works at The Snowboard Asylum next to Ellis Brigham, used one of the boards to slide down Whiteladies Road, which police closed because of accidents.

Mark, 32, from Clifton, said: "It was great fun, absolutely fantastic. It was brilliant to finally get a chance to slide past the shop."