Boris Johnson calls on Britons to head to the High Street and kick-start the flagging economy

Boris Johnson has urged British shoppers to head to the High Street to kick-start the flailing economy when stores reopen on Monday as the PM faces a cabinet backlash over Sunday trading plans. 

Leading by example, the prime minister is planning to visit a high street next week – in his first public visit since lockdown began – to reassure shoppers it’s safe to return to non-essential activities as restrictions are eased come Monday. 

Johnson will point out how high street stores have adapted to the virus after statistics revealed a grim portrait of the public’s willingness to return to regular activities. 

Despite stores offering one-way systems and quarantined footwear for returning shoppers, data from the Office of National Statistics suggests that a massive 64 per cent of people in England are too afraid to leave their house. 

Twenty per cent of people said they would never step foot in a shop again, according to a separate survey. 

Some ministers wrote a letter to the PM saying his planned move to scrap Sunday trading laws, which would give cafes and pubs a fast-track to serve drink and food outside, would face opposition. 

The series of drastic measures are a response to the worrying economic future facing the country.  GDP plummeted by more than a fifth in the first full month of the crippling lockdown being in place, following a 5.8 per cent slump in March – which was in itself the biggest dive ever, at the time.  

The eye-watering plunge, even worse than analysts had predicted, fuelled a frantic call for the two-metre rule strangling the hospitality and retail sectors to be eased.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been leading a push in Cabinet, and Scottish Secretary Alister Jack broke cover today to signal he supports the move to ‘save people’s livelihoods’.  

Rishi has advised MPs to follow the PM’s lead and to step out onto the high streets in their own constituencies to relieve the public’s fears, the Telegraph reported.  

Government scientists have told ministers the two-metre rule can be relaxed by businesses after lockdown as long as they introduce other measures. 

Officials are contacting businesses directly to find out how they’re planning to keep shoppers safe, but it will be up to individual companies to carry out their own risk assessments.  

Hundreds of shops are busily preparing for a stampede of customers on Monday when they fling open their doors for the first time since lockdown. 

Non-essential stores in England will roll up the shutters next week after Boris Johnson announced the next phase of lockdown loosening to inject some life back into the nation’s struggling high streets.

Staff at some of the best-loved brands were today pictured plastering shop floors with social distancing markings and wiping down windows. 

Oxford Street in central London, which has been eerily sleepy during the crisis, eased back to normality as employees at flagship stores began readying for the flood of shoppers.

Westminster council billboards urging pedestrians to keep two metres apart were stationed on the pavements, which are expected to be rammed next week. 

After a punishing lockdown which has hit the retail sector hard – and claimed some high-profile casualties – businesses will be eager to drum up as many sales as possible.  

Primark is reopening 153 of its stores, M&S is reopening 25 of its clothing branches – and all clothing spaces in food halls – and JD Sports is reopening all 309 of its outlets.

But retailers are under strict instructions from ministers to enforce rigid social distancing to avoid so-called Manic Monday raising the infection rate.

Stores have braced customers for outside queues during busy times, while also erecting Perspex screens at checkouts.  

Many fitting rooms will be off limits, while some services, such as bra fittings, will not restart yet.   

 

 

Further measures include a maximum limit on the number of customers allowed in the store at one time, protective screens at tills and hand-sanitiser at the entrance to the store and near to escalators. 

Other major retails to already announce plans to reopen include Currys PC World, which will reopen 131 of its stores from Monday.

The tech retailer says it will initially provide support to customers with current technological issues – creating what they describe as ‘Tech Help Hubs’.

Music retailer HMW will reopen all but 15 of its stores across the UK from Monday, when stores in England and Northern Ireland will reopen.

Its remaining stores, all in Scotland and Wales, will not reopen until it receives further guidance from the government.

Department stores will also look to reopen, including Fenwick, which will reopen all of its stores from Monday, while John Lewis will start with just two, in Kingston, Surrey, and Poole, Dorset.

A further 11 stores in Cambridge, Norwich, Bluewater, Cheadle, Cheltenham, High Wycombe, Horsham, Nottingham, Solihull, Welwyn and Ipswich will reopen three days later.  

Sports Direct said about 500 of its stores would start trading from Monday, while high-end department store Selfridges will also reopen.

House of Fraser is one of the major chains not to be reopening its stores on Monday, but will do so ‘towards the end of the week’.

It comes as today shopping centres in Northern Ireland reopened after being given the green light from the Northern Ireland Executive. 

One way systems have been put in place to help shoppers maintain social distancing while walking around the centres and in stores. 

In England, the government confirmed last night that all non-essential retailers will be allowed to reopen on Monday.

But shops will only legally be allowed to reopen if they are ‘Covid-secure’.

The government has warned it will fine shops owners up to £1,000 if they have not carried out adequate risk assessments.  

But the British Retail Consortium, the trade organisation which represents the retail industry, expects a ‘substantial proportion’ of big shops to reopen on Monday, The Times reports.

Also today, the boss of Primark poured cold water on rumours of the ‘sale of the century’ for shoppers when stores reopen, by confirming there will be no sales or promotions on offer for Primark shoppers when its stores reopen next week.

The popular chain has been hit hard during lockdown, as it does not operate an online shopping website and has been forced to shut all its high-street stores. 

The number of shoppers being allowed into a Primark store at any one time will be limited, and the company says it has hired ‘additional security staff’ to stem the flow of shoppers entering.  

Toilets, fitting rooms and cafes and beauty concession areas, where they are installed, will remain closed, with Primark saying it will keep the situation under review as restrictions are lifted further by the Government.

Shoppers will have to stay two metres apart and will be confronted with markers on the floor and further guidance on social distancing on shop walls.

Primark added: ‘Frequent tannoy announcements are made in store reminding customers to adhere to social distancing measures.’

Outside stores, designated queuing lanes have been established to make sure the flow of shoppers is limited.   

Paul Marchant, Primark’s chief executive, said: ‘We have really missed our customers and we are delighted to be back on 15 June and able to provide them with the quality, affordable products they love from Primark. 

‘While it might take a little longer to get into store, once inside, customers will find all their favourite Primark products and plenty of choice as usual. 

‘We have worked hard to make sure that clear signage and extra help will be there to guide them through the changes we have made to allow for social distancing.

‘We are also asking customers to respect the measures we have put in place to help ensure shopping at Primark is an enjoyable, safe experience for everyone.’ 

Owner Associated British Foods shut all its Primark stores in March in the face of coronavirus, which it said resulted in a loss of around £650million for every month that all stores were closed.

It said that it cut more than 50 per cent off overheads at Primark in a bid to stabilise its finances during the pandemic. 

Primark, which furloughed 68,000 staff across Europe during the pandemic, has already opened most of its shops across the continent.  

Earlier this month, Primark said its buying team had done a review of its spring-summer stock and had earmarked ‘certain products’ to be held in storage to be sold next summer, ‘without the need for special discounting beyond our normal practices’.

It said: ‘We will continue our policy of offering the best everyday low prices and will seek to avoid any markdown on excess stock.’

The company, which has faced criticism over order cancellations with suppliers in Asia, last month said its inventory had reached £1.5billion and that it expected to take a £284million hit from stock languishing in its warehouses.

With swathes of the high-street reopening next week, it remains to be seen the extent to which shoppers will be willing to put up with social distancing measures in stores, with many already tired of queuing for supermarkets, pharmacies and popular DIY chains. 

Echoing these concerns, Primark said that ‘as long as social distancing is required, we expect it to restrict the capacity of our busiest stores from achieving their aggregate pre-Covid-19 sales’.