REOPENED retailers are happy to be back in business after seeing a surge in shoppers post-lockdown.

After making a few changes to meet the new safety guidelines, staff at shops and takeaways around the high street are starting to get back into the swing of things.

Though not quite an immediate return to normality, trade is picking up and there is hope that independent businesses that have been hit hard by the pandemic can begin to bounce back.

Andy Knight co-owns men's fashion shop The Forum in the Brunel Shopping Centre. He said: "“We’ve been great, it’s been super positive. Everyone who has come in has been respectful of the new rules and shopping safe.

“We still have a great positive energy on the shop floor. This is my little notch of the world and we just have to keep people coming back.”

Johnathan Brown and Troy Loveday of the Incredible Comic Book Shop stopped taking salaries at the beginning of March, before lockdown came into force, because trade had already begun to slow.

They saw a spike in customers on reopening day but footfall has been inconsistent since then, so they are waiting to see how things go over the next few weeks before deciding on whether to start taking salaries again.

Johnathan said “We were still coming in twice a week during lockdown for postal orders because we wanted to stay hands-on with the business.

“It was not a pleasant experience, it was hard, because we were not making anywhere near the amount of money that usually comes in but still had to pay rent, though the government’s grant for the self-employed did tide us over.

“We get a lot of shipments from America and that stopped because flights were cancelled, so at least we didn’t have to pay for the usual deliveries, there were only a couple.

“Troy thought it would be really busy when we reopened because people would be desperate to have a bit of freedom, whereas I thought it would be quiet because people were worried about going outside.

“In the end, it was somewhere in the middle. The first week was decent and quite busy with people catching up on comics and stuff they’d missed, but the second week was much quieter - maybe because of the nice weather.

“We’re waiting for a rainy day because that’s when people usually come in to buy books. As more people get comfortable with shopping safely, I’m hopeful that things will be back to normal again eventually.

“We’ve been around for almost 10 years and we’ve managed to come out the other side of difficult times because we put the business over ourselves."

Triple Two Coffee on Havelock Street claims to have been the first coffee shop to reopen in the town centre, serving takeaway drinks and snacks. They hope to put their outside tables back up this weekend.

Assistant manager Leah Fernandez said: "It's been fairly busy, especially on the weekends. It's nice to get back to work, though it's hard because we're used to our old way of working and this is not our normal routine.

"A lot of our regulars are used to coming in and sitting down but we can't offer that right now, so it'll be nice when they come back."

Victoria Capener of Indy’s Vegan Kitchen in The Crossing agreed. She said: “I’m looking forward to having tables and chairs back. Every business in this food court has people who like to sit and relax and spend time with their friends and family.

"I missed seeing my customers, that was the hardest part for me because the thing I enjoy most about this job is seeing customers’ lovely faces.

“It’s been a really good couple of weeks since I reopened, there has been a nice steady flow of people through here. I put up a new menu which people liked, and it was great to see old faces come back."