THERE were long queues in the town centre as a large number of non-essential shops opened on Monday.

YH arrived at just before 10 am and the top car park in The Water Gardens was full.

Water Gardens staff we very busy keeping the queues moving and ensuring social distancing was observed but it looked like people were calm and enjoying the summer sunshine and the fact that some of their favourite shops had re-opened after being closed for three months.

As you can see the queues for Sports Direct went around the corner and close to the rear of the Playhouse.

We then went to the Broad Walk where there was a long long queue for Primark. Again, people were quietly waiting their turn and the social distancing measures organised by Harlow Council and the shops seemed to be working very well.

Other shops such as Starbucks and Lloyds Bank had small queues.

We then popped into the Harvey Centre where there was a steady stream of shoppers all following the guidelines.