Much-needed midnight haircuts, crack-of-dawn retail therapy and cheering thirsty pub-goers have ushered in the long-awaited reopening of a swathe of businesses across England.
Eager customers wasted no time in making the most of the easing of coronavirus restrictions on Monday as the country took the next significant step on its journey out of a third national lockdown.
Losing lengthy lockdown locks and reinvigorating beauty treatments were the priority for some as relaxed rules meant salons and hairdressers were able to treat customers for the first time since January 6.
Early-morning queues formed outside clothing stores, with thousands of non-essential retail premises now eligible to resume trading.
COVID-19: Pubs, hairdressers and non-essential shops reopen as lockdown eases
Prime Minister
Boris Johnson urged the nation to behave responsibly as non-essential shops, hairdressers, salons, pubs, restaurants, outdoor attractions and gyms reopened in England.
Live COVID updates from across the UK and around the world
In
Wales, people can also visit non-essential shops and travel across the border to other areas of the UK from today.
Meanwhile, people in
Northern Ireland are now allowed to meet 10 others outside as the stay at home order has been scrapped.
April snow showers made
outdoor service at pubs and restaurants a chilly prospect in parts of southern England, but the wintry conditions appeared to do little to dampen enthusiasm.
How Britons have enjoyed the easing of lockdown restrictions
From rushing to the nearest pub to seeing loved ones in care homes, the next step on the road back to normal has brought joy to the nation
Cold weather hasn t stopped Brits from returning to pub gardens
Credit: Kate Green/Getty Images
It was billed as “The Glorious 12th” and, naturally, the British weather didn’t immediately get that memo. Still, frigid temperatures and a light welcome of morning sleet were never going to stop people reclaiming many of their long-deprived liberties.
After the return of outdoor activities and small al fresco gatherings a fortnight ago, Monday 12 April saw the next major step on the government’s roadmap towards the end of lockdown in England as pubs, restaurants, salons and non-essential shops threw open their doors in addition to the reintroduction of several less obvious – but no less yearned-for – freedoms.
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