TRADERS have welcomed the reopening of retailers in Colchester town centre, expressing optimism for the town’s recovery.

Shoppers flooded back to the town yesterday morning following the relaxation of Government lockdown restrictions.

National retailers such as Primark, Fenwick and Sports Direct experienced big queues as shoppers waited for their retail therapy fix.

A number of independent retailers in the town have also expressed optimism following the reopening of businesses.

Bill Nettelfield, owner of Bill and Bert’s gift shop in Sir Isaac’s Walk, reopened on Monday morning.

He said: “We opened at 9am and had quite a few people in straight away.

“I have had a wander round town and it looks like the town is nice and ready to welcome shoppers back with the new safety measures.

“Talking to a few customers they are pleased to get a chance to go shopping again.

“Things are obviously going to be different for people and we do not know how long it is going to last.

“I noticed it seems to have become second nature to respect other people’s space, it is becoming normality.

“We are reopening with no great expectations to begin with, it is just lovely to welcome our customers back.

“We are opening normal hours to start with and we will see what volume of customers we get.

“If it goes really quiet after 4pm we will start to close early but for now we are 9am until 5pm.

“We are offering ten per cent off everything to everyone. The whole country has been affected and needs a pick me up.”

Jez Dixon, of Eld Lane’s Best Days Vintage, said it may take a few weeks to get a full sense of how the town’s recovery would go, but he was optimistic.

“There was a very short queue of people outside this morning when I arrived to work,” he said.

“We have been selling online during the lockdown period so we have still been operating.

“We have had lots of regular supporters shopping with us online during lockdown so we have spent the time building up our connection with the community.

“It is not like things were great before lockdown for the town centre generally but hopefully this time not being able to visit shops has reminded people why they like going in to town.

“I hope people will make good on their promise to show their support for small businesses.

“I think it will be a couple of weeks before we know how it is going, but I am feeling positive.”

He added: “There is definitely a sense of community amongst Colchester’s independents and that is a good sign going forward.”

Jeanette Zaman has run clothing store Belle Love in Eld Lane for five years.

She said the lockdown has been a tough time for the business, but it was good to be able to get back to some sense of normality.

Jeanette said: “We do a lot of country shows and things like that which have been cancelled so times have been hard for us.

“It was a massive shock for us when the crisis hit.

“I think it will take time for people to come back, a lot of people are frightened to go out at the moment.

“I am expecting the weekends to be busier as many people are back at work now.

“At the end of the day we have to wait and see how things turn out. The town seems to be safe and I am hopeful.”

Dennis Davis owns Deja Brew cafe in Sir Isaac’s Walk.

He has been opening for takeaways for two weeks but said Monday had brought a dramatic increase in footfall.

He said: “There is a lot more people about.

“The crisis has been difficult for businesses like me, we still have to pay our bills.

“But with the Government support for small businesses hopefully everyone is set to reopen.

“If people think the town centre will be how it was before the crisis I think they’re mistaken.

“We won’t see lots of families about.”

He added: “It could be a long time before people want to come in and sit in a cafe again.”