LENGTHY queues are building outside stores at Cheshire Oaks following its reopening today – nearly three months after it temporarily closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Although a queue of traffic formed outside the popular shopping attraction prior to the gates being unlocked, there has been no congestion ahead of the shops reopening their doors at 10am.

The shoppers who had headed down early were forming queues and adhering to the guidelines put in place by Cheshire Oaks staff.

As the car parks steadily filled up, lengthy queues had formed outside a number of popular stores by 1pm, including the Nike shop and the Next outlet.

The Coliseum Shopping Park has also reopened to non-essential businesses today, with queues forming outside New Look and Sports Direct.

Cheshire Oaks has restricted customer capacities in place and has adjusted opening hours from 10am to 6pm, Monday to Sunday.

The designer outlet will also initially operate with 50% fewer parking spaces to help control the number of customers on-site at any one time.

Staff were patrolling the main entrance and car parks to control the traffic.
Speaking today, councillor Karen Shore, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Strategic Transport, said: "It is great news that our high streets and shopping centres can now slowly reopen.

"I want to make sure shoppers know what the new arrangements are, they can check online to see how busy the outlet is during the day and plan their visit for quieter periods to avoid delays. The car parks may have to be temporarily closed if capacity is reached.

"We have contingency plans for additional traffic management arrangements should any safety issues arise on the surrounding road network."