The sun shone on shops and beer gardens as Burnley emerged from lockdown slumber

Non-essential retail shops and businesses, including hairdressers, clothing stores and pubs, reopened today following the first stage of the easing of restrictions.

Queues of people could be seen waiting patiently outside popular stores in Burnley town centre, such as Primark, while there were also waits for regualrs to finally sink a proper pub pint, albeit in a beer garden.

A Burnley Council spokesman said: "It's great to see shops, businesses and Burnley Market Hall opening their doors again to customers and it will bring a real buzz back to our town centres.

"We're working with businesses to help support them as they re-open and to say to people 'welcome back'. We've also launched our 'free after 3pm' car parking offer in Burnley town centre to encourage people into the town later in the day.

"We want to see people start to come back into our shops and enjoy themselves but we all have to remember that Covid-19 is still with us. We need to continue to follow the 'hands, face and space' guidance to help protect ourselves and others."