SHOPPERS filled the town centre as non-essential businesses opened their doors for the first time in three months.

Hundreds waited to get into Primark. The queue snaked round onto College Street all the way to Sanford House before the shop even began letting customers inside - some started lining up at 7am.

The line had lessened slightly by lunchtime but still caused several people to stop and stare, or call it madness.

Security guards and shop assistants monitoring the flow of customers at other stores were heard remarking: ‘Have you seen the queue at Primark? Glad I’m not up there.’

Samantha Matthew and mum Dawn Spring got in line around 12.30pm and were inside within 25 minutes. Samantha said: “It looked worse than it was, it moved quite quickly and at least the weather was nice.

“The kids had a growth spurt during lockdown and none of their clothes fit now which is why we went into town, we went to Primark and Yours.

“The girls are three and five and haven’t been out since March 4 so we’re just trying to keep them happy.

“We thought it would be a quick in-and-out because we thought maybe the virus would have scared people off but it was much busier than either of us expected.

“Some people weren’t keeping their distance, which was a bit of a worry, they went right up close, but most were staying away.

“We won’t be coming back into town unless it’s for essentials because the coronavirus numbers are still a little high, it’s too much of a risk, better safe than sorry.”

At Sports Direct long queue had to bend into the middle of the street at times to avoid clashing with Nationwide’s queue, and at banks like Barclays, HSBC, NatWest and Santander.

This caused some congestion around the top of Regent Street, where keeping two metres apart from other pedestrians proved tricky sometimes.

Elsewhere, there was plenty of space to move around and people patiently followed the rules and made sure to splash some hand sanitiser on before going into each shop.

In the lead-up to June 15, the Adver, the borough council and inSwindon had urged people to pop in to support shops that have struggled during lockdown.

And it seems many Swindonians were eager to do just that.

Apart from the masks seen on some - but far from all - shoppers’ faces, and the occasional queues, the streets looked not that different from a busy Saturday.

David and Pauline Cheeseman enjoyed their first trip into town in months. David said: “We hadn’t been there since April 1 and we were glad to be back.

“It was just to go into Holland and Barrett but we’ll be back on a regular basis once the restaurants are open again.”

Signs set up throughout the Brunel Shopping Centre reminded people to keep their distance, cross sensibly, and stay four steps apart from others on the steps.

Andy Knight of The Forum in the Brunel’s top floor had made a video urging people to buy local from independent businesses like his.

He added: “It was a good day, we had a really good response and saw a lot of friendly faces.

“People are respecting the rules. We’re not expecting high street-level crowds because we’re a bit more niche but it’s great to see people back in the town centre.”

Other homegrown independents saw a slow but steady stream of customers trickle into their shops.

Paul Holmes of Holmes Music said: “I’ve had constant phone calls and emails from customers asking when we’d be back, people wanting to get their guitar retuned.

“It was not that different from a typical Monday, which was good.

“A lot of people’s circumstances have been affected but as long as people are still in work, still earning income and feel confident going outside, the shops will survive.

“Before lockdown, we had a peak of people buying guitars and electric drumkits because they knew they would be at home for a while.

“That’s been one good thing out of all this, new musicians emerging. Hopefully they come in again

.”

Staff from inSwindon and the Brunel could be seen out and about keeping an eye on the queues and ensuring the important first day of trading for many businesses went as smoothly as possible.