Anyone shopping in Manchester today will see some big changes to the city centre

Manchester city centre is set to look very different as the non-essential shops reopen today. 

Non-essential shops are back open for business today, and Manchester City Council has introduced a series of measures and changes to ensure the safety of staff and shoppers.

There has been extra signage installed across the city centre to help people keep their distance and control the spread of coronavirus. 

There will be eight uniformed and highly visible street marshals working in the city centre, who are experienced in crowd management and can deal with any crowd-related issues quickly, the Manchester Evening News reports. 

Many pavements in the city centre have been widened around transport hubs to help people socially distance, as more people return to work. 

To help people with walking and cycling more safely around the city centre, part of Deansgate has been closed and Thomas Street will be closed to traffic seven days a week. 

The Council has also submitted a £600k Active Travel bid to the Department of Transport to fund schemes that will make more space for people travelling across the city on foot or bike. 

Pat Karney, Manchester City Council’s city centre spokesperson, said: “We have to take a safety-first approach as people begin to return to the city. For the foreseeable future we have to balance our residents’ health and the economic recovery of the city – and tens of thousands of city centre jobs depend on getting this right.

“If you do need to be in the city centre in the coming weeks, you will see some small changes – such as new signs and uniformed street marshals – that have been installed to keep us safe and to remind us that although there have been some changes to lockdown, the pandemic is not over and we must remain cautious.

“I will be in the city centre on Monday and I will wear a mask when going into shops as both a precaution and a reassurance. We all have a responsibility to look after our health – and we all still have a role to play in limiting the spread of the virus.”

If you are shopping today, here’s a list of all the shops open in the Arndale and Trafford Centre.