Keir Starmer urges government to help UK high streets

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Retailers say they “cannot wait” to open their doors and start to bounce back from the pandemic. After being closed for nine of the past 12 months, non-­essential shops are welcoming back customers a week tomorrow, and recovery hopes are high among business leaders. Some retailers are planning to open seven days a week while others may take advantage of extended hours from 7am-10pm.

Most shops reopen two weeks later in Scotland, with no date yet set for Northern Ireland. But bosses warn that any more national shutdowns this year could break their businesses.

Andrew Goodacre, chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, said: “We all want this to be the last lockdown as any retailer that has survived the past 12 months has probably used every ounce of that energy and enthusiasm, and financial resources, to get here.

“So any more lockdowns this year could be absolutely fatal for them.”

Andrew predicts a “great year” if the reopening goes well on April 12. He said: “After one of the worst years, this could be one of the best years.

“People are being asked to stay in the country and not go away, so you get even more expenditure back into the UK economy. 

“We want to see people spending on the high street again and not just in shops, in cafes and in hospitality, because shopping alone won’t sustain high streets.”

Traders in two towns often named by customers as among the best in the UK – Hitchin in Hertfordshire and Saffron Walden in Essex – say they have used click and collect online orders to ­survive since December but now need the in-store business. Hayley Attridge, owner of Blue, a women’s clothes shop in King Street, Saffron Walden, said the last lockdown had been “really tough” and expects safety measures like hand sanitising and mask wearing to be needed until winter.

The 55-year-old mother of three is planning to open seven days a week. She said: “It will feel like opening the store for the first time, it really will. Lots of people have been banging on the doors ­desperate to come in.”

Katrina Raill, 53, who runs Etcetera home and gift store in Churchgate, Hitchin, with mum Anne, 74, has also had people knocking on the door. She said: “The latest lockdown has been horrific but also lovely, as I have got to know the names rather than just the faces of my ­customers and even their life stories. 

“Many shouted through the doors and we’ve had a bit of a chat. People cannot wait for April 12, so I’m hoping we’ll be busy and this will be the last lockdown.

“I’m feeling positive and super-excited.”

David Reed, the fifth generation at the helm of homeware store Angela Reed, the longest-running family business in Saffron Walden since 1880, said: “It will be a ­massive relief to reopen. We have used the latest lockdown to ­redecorate the shop but it has been a lot harder financially.”

Charlotte Gatward is the eighth generation running Gatwards of Hitchin, the oldest family-run ­jewellers in the UK, having first opened in 1760.

She said: “We have done online orders ­during the lockdown but it’s not the same as welcoming someone in and helping them to try on the jewellery.”

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