Wardens hired to police crowds as high streets in England reopen
Small towns have been at the forefront of the negative economic impacts of the coronavirus – lets hope we get a return to normal as quickly as possible and don’t just find ourselves bemused by a busy “stewarded” two weeks of retail madness followed by a massive long term dip. This could be really serious for our smaller towns. This story tells us.
Local councils and retail giants will deploy a small army of “social distancing wardens” on Monday to police crowds as non-essential shops open their doors after almost three months of lockdown.
Councils across the country have hired or redeployed staff to ensure shoppers and retailers comply with social distancing rules. And big chain stores, including Primark, Ikea and John Lewis, have brought in extra security staff.
The councils and retailers hope the wardens will prevent unruly queues as people rush back to clothes, homewares and electrical shops that have been closed since March. More than 1,000 people were reported to have queued outside Ikea warehouse stores, some turning up at 5.30am, when the Swedish chain was allowed to open two weeks ago.