Gosport shops reopen as shoppers voice excitement at being able to 'have a browse' once again

Although a number of places in Gosport High Street have been trading through lockdown, such as the newsagents and Post Office, today saw the clothes shops, vape stores and entertainment outlets also reopen their doors.

Some charity shops have remained closed for the time being, as well as Card Factory, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of shoppers.

Compared to streets such as Commercial Road in Portsmouth, Gosport’s retail reunion was a quieter affair – but for visitors, that simply meant less time queueing, and more time hunting around inside.

Jean Lloyd, 64 from Gosport, has been shopping in the High Street today.

She said: 'I've been to Poundland and Peacocks today - it wasn't too busy which was nice, it made social distancing very easy.

'I saw the photos of Primark in The News this morning - I wouldn't have dared to queue up for that.

'It's lovely to have a proper shop again, even just having a browse. I'm a social person too so I'm happy to see everyone after being stuck indoors – and it beats looking at my husband all day!'

Nick Green, owner of bakery A Little Slice of Heaven, said it was nice to have the high street slowly returning to normal.

He said: ‘There has certainly been a lot more people about, which is really encouraging.

‘I imagine that some people will have gone to Portsmouth to do their shopping, but there’s a pleasant amount of people around.

‘Business for me has actually been rather good, so I’m glad the high street is filling up once again.'

The new mayor of Gosport, Cllr Zoe Huggins, has also urged people to make the most of the high street's reopening.

She said: ‘Gosport has grit and resilience and that's been shown in recent weeks.

‘We must now look to reignite our economy.’

Other shops are expected to reopen in due course.

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