The end of 2020 was largely marked by low key celebrations across the UK leaving empty streets with most areas either locked down or under heavy restrictions.

But 12 months ago, the year that most people would like to quickly forget was welcomed in the usual bombastic fashion - with huge crowds gathering to watch firework displays or pack bars and clubs.

With a ban on large gatherings leading the main public displays to be scrapped, city streets - which on New Year's Eve would normally be heaving - were like ghost towns.

Photos from London's Piccadilly Circus show police officers breaking up small groups of rule flouters, with comparisons from 2019's NYE Hare Krishna street celebration standing in stark contrast.

New Year's Eve fireworks in Trafalgar Square in 2019 (
Image:
Paul Brown/REX/Shutterstock)
The popular spot had to be boarded to prevent illegal celebrations in 2020 (
Image:
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Londoners braved the cold and highest levels of coronavirus restrictions to enjoy a New Year's Eve drink, queuing down the street in New Cross to get their hands on a frosty pint.

While police were forced to break up crowds that had gathered on South Bank, there were sparse revellers holding sparklers as they milled in front of the London Eye.

Trafalgar Square, another firework hotspot, was boarded up and the surrounds almost completely devoid of people - with pictures showing the odd pedestrian as police continued patrols. 

Piccadilly Circus in 2019 saw happy crowds celebrating (
Image:
In Pictures via Getty Images)
Police officers patrol the same area in a near-deserted London a year later (
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh, where live music and a Christmas Market brought swathes of people to welcome 2020, were almost completely desolate this time round.

Scots were told to celebrate at home, with Edinburgh's traditional Hogmanay street parties replaced with "drone swarm" videos shown on TV.

They featured a swarm of 150 illuminated drones which form symbols and animals in a "beautiful ode to Scotland" over famous landmarks.

Princes Street Gardens during New Year's Eve celebrations in 2019 (top) and last night (below) (
Image:
Alamy Live News.)

Elsewhere in the world, New York City marked the start of 2021 with its famous Times Square ball drop - but it was largely closed off to the public, with Americans instead forced to watch via live-streams.

The same place that last year saw over a million people pack in to watch the annual tradition as well as live music performances was far more somber.

Only a handful of invited guests, including health care workers and others from the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, gathered to usher in the New Year.

Fireworks light up the sky during the new year celebrations at Times Square, New York, last year
Times Square last night was a completely different picture (
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)

Fireworks soared into the sky above the Sydney Opera House, but the harbour below was a deserted ghost town, a fittingly creepy send-off for a year that will not be missed.

Moscow's Red Square, Berlin's Brandenburg Gate and Madrid's Puerta del Sol were barricaded off.

No light show illuminated Beijing from the top of the TV tower. St Peter's in Rome was nearly empty for vespers.

Revellers seen shortly before fireworks light up the sky above the London Eye on New Year's Eve 2019 (
Image:
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Mounted police officers patrol The Victoria Embankment, overlooked by the London Eye, last night (
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)

In Britain, under ever tighter restrictions to fight a new, more contagious variant of the virus, official billboards instruct the public to "see in the New Year safely at home".

Italy's bars and restaurants were closed, and a curfew imposed for 10pm.

The rules prevented the traditional assembly of thousands of Roman Catholic worshippers for New Year's Eve vespers at St Peter's Basilica.

Brandenburg Gate in Berlin 12 months ago (
Image:
Getty Images)
Police officers secure the area near the Brandenburg Gate last night (
Image:
REUTERS)

Pope Francis cancelled plans to lead the service because of a flare-up of his sciatica, the Vatican said, and a cardinal read the pope's sermon to a small congregation at a secondary altar.

At "A la Ville de Rodez", an upmarket delicatessen in Paris, manager Brice Tapon sent customers home with packages of foie gras, truffles and pate for groups of two or three.

Fireworks explode over the Kremlin in Moscow during New Year celebrations last year (
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)
Fireworks light the night sky over the largely empty Kremlin and the Red Square yesterday (
Image:
YURI KOCHETKOV/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Rules forbid more than six adults to gather around the dinner table.

One of the customers, Anne Chaplin, said she would "stuff myself with foie gras, champagne and all this food."

"And I'll stay home."