IPSWICH: Usually a throng of shoppers and office workers on lunch breaks would line the streets of Ipswich town centre at noon on a Friday.

But not yesterday.

As thousands of patriotic Brits tuned in to watch Prince William marry university sweetheart Kate Middleton, Ipswich was turned into something resembling a ghost town.

Of the handful of those who were out and about, most were either on their way to a royal wedding party or had been dispatched to get more supplies.

The eerie calm was replicated up and down the country - with usually busy roads, bustling shopping districts and congested motorways empty.