Customers queue as pubs, hairdressers and gyms reopen

Chris Marsden at the Showtime Bar in Huddersfield described its reopening as "a great plus"

Pubs across Yorkshire have seen their beer gardens packed out from midnight with customers keen to enjoy their first post- lockdown drink.

Ian Snowball who runs the Showtime Bar in Huddersfield said every table was occupied.

Pubs, shops, gyms and hairdressers are reopening as lockdown rules are eased.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged everyone to "behave responsibly" and said social distancing measures remained in force.

Mr Snowball said flurries of snow had not deterred drinkers from turning up to their pre-booked beer garden tables.

"We didn't even know if anyone was going to come," he said.

"It's in Huddersfield, it's midnight, it's freezing cold, but look everyone has come. There isn't a single table [where] people haven't arrived."

Chris Marsden, enjoying a gin and tonic, said: "After 14 months of not going anywhere, except for funerals, it's a great plus."

Gents Barbers in Brigg, North Lincolnshire dealt with 35 customers after it opened at midnight

North Yorkshire Police issued a warning to pubgoers saying "officers expect to see a surge in drink-driving on North Yorkshire's roads".

Hairdressers also saw a steady stream of customers.

Gents Barbers in Brigg, North Lincolnshire, dealt with 35 clients after it opened at midnight.

One happy customer, Andy, said he had not had a haircut for five months and his wife described him as "looking like Worzel Gummidge".

"I'm like a new man, two stone lighter," he said.

Elsewhere, shops across the region geared up for reopening after lockdown, but there were no long queues like those seen outside stores last summer when the first lockdown ended.

Ian Ward, from the Broadway Shopping Centre in Bradford, said the number of shoppers would be limited to meet Covid regulations.

"Every retailer can have a certain amount of people in the unit," he said.

"We have got queue bubbles in place to help people, we obviously [have] got the one-way systems to help people.

"If we do get too bigger queues outside retailers a little bit later on we will be asking people to move on and potentially come back when it's a bit quieter in that unit."

Shopping centres like the Broadway in Bradford have measures in place to ensure social distancing

Sports centres are also free to welcome back users.

Mark Morgan, manager of the John Charles Centre for Sport in Leeds, described reopening as "absolutely fantastic".

"Since the 5th of January where we've had to close our facilities just seems such a long time ago now," he said.

"The impact that that's had on people's physical health and mental wellbeing has obviously been quite detrimental."