HUNDREDS of shoppers flooded the city centre yesterday as non-essential stores opened for the first time.

Shops across Hampshire opened their doors to the public for the first time in three months yesterday due to lockdown measures that were in place due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Crowds of people queued outside Sports Direct and Primark on Above Bar Street, with lines of people stretching the whole length of the high street in some places.

John and Cara from Rownhams were queuing for more than 20 minutes to get into Sports Direct.

The father and daughter said they were hoping to buy some shoes.

Westquay Shopping Centre also opened its doors to the public with the addition of new safety measures in places.

In line with Government advice, shoppers followed social distancing measures introduced to ensure customer and staff safety.

Laura Read, General Manager at Westquay, said: “It has been great to welcome back our customers to the centre today.

“We’ve been working hard behind the scenes for the past few months to get everything ready, and we’ve introduced a range of measures to keep everyone safe.

“We know that this new way of shopping is going to take some getting used to, but it was brilliant to see Westquay and Southampton busy again.”

Shirley High Street proved to be less busy with only a handful of people browsing the shops.

A small queue built up outside Peacocks and people also queued outside Sainsbury’s to do weekly grocery shopping.

However, traffic driving through the high street towards the city centre built up as the morning stretched on with buses, cars and taxis all heading towards town.

Eastleigh high street was also quiet with a few small queues waiting outside shops and takeaway restaurants.

Two large queues had built up outside the Swan Centre as shoppers waited patiently to entre the shopping centre.