Families enjoyed trips to the cinema for the first time in more than three months today as lockdown restrictions eased in England.

Cinemas are very different places to be as they welcome the public back, with extra safety measures in place including perspex screens at tills and food stations, one-way systems and hand-sanitising on arrival and exit.

While some big chains including Cineworld and Odeon remain closed this weekend, the cinemas that did reopen attracted a large number of customers who said they were happy to be returning to normality.

Andrea Necchi, 31, who visited the Showcase cinema in the Bluewater shopping centre in Dartford, Kent with his children, said it was a ‘strange experience’.

Revealing his children had their temperatures checked when they walked in, the construction company protection project manager said: ‘It’s all a bit eerie, but apart from that it is good to be back.’

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All staff were wearing masks at the Showcase cinema, but very few customers were seen to be covering their faces.

The picture house was showing old films – including Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone and Back To The Future – today, amid a shortfall in new film releases.

Dog carer Michelle Major, 57, revealed she is glad England is reopening as it has been difficult to explain lockdown restrictions to her son, who is disabled and autistic.

She said her son was ‘super excited’ to be going to the cinema, adding that she was ‘impressed’ by the safety measures put in place.

The mother said: ‘I think it is very safe, it is not the staff or the cinema who will mess things up, it is the customers.’

Meanwhile, a mum named Leanne said it was ‘nice to get out again’ as she visited a Showcase cinema in Leeds.

She said: ‘We were a bit nervous really about coming back but the cinema here, it has been really, really good how they’re spacing people out and they have been really hygienic, so it is quite nice knowing that they are doing everything they can.’

Cinema chain Cineworld has pushed back its reopening date to July 31, blaming the delay on changes to planned film release dates, while Vue and Picturehouse are also not opening this weekend.

Odeon opened 10 of its cinemas on Saturday and says it will welcome back customers at a further 88 by the end of the month.

Pubs, restaurants and hairdressers were also back in action on Saturday, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson warning the public not to ‘blow it’.

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