List of shops open during coronavirus lockdown

On Monday night, Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered the closure of all non-essential stores as he plunged the UK into a lockdown to ease the burden on the NHS.

Corner shops, pharmacies, supermarkets, hardware stores, banks, petrol stations and bike shops can stay open during the pandemic.

Pubs, bars and restaurants had already been told to shut their doors in an effort to prevent the spread on people mixing closely in public. Places of worship are closed, apart from for funerals, as must libraries, museums, galleries and bingo halls.

Takeaway and delivery services may remain open and operational, and online retail is still open and encouraged and postal and delivery service will run as normal, but Next shut down its online operations last night, so who knows who will also do the same.

So here’s a lowdown on what shops can stay open here:

Food and drink

• Food delivery and takeaway can remain operational and can be a new activity supported by the new permitted development right. This covers the provision of hot or cold food that has been prepared for consumers for collection or delivery to be consumed, reheated or cooked by consumers off the premises.
• Food delivery and takeaway can remain operational (and as above).
• Cafés and canteens at hospitals, police and fire service places of work, care homes or schools; prison and military canteens; services providing food or drink to the homeless.
• Where there are no practical alternatives, other workplace canteens can remain open to provide food for their staff and/or provide a space for breaks. However, where possible, staff should be encouraged to bring their own food, and distributors should move to takeaway. Measures should be taken to minimise the number of people in the canteen / break space at any one given time, for example by using a rota.

Retail

• Supermarkets and other food shops
• Medical services (such as dental surgeries, opticians and audiology clinics, physiotherapy clinics, chirpody and podiatry clinics, and other professional vocational medical services)
• Pharmacies and chemists, including non-dispensing pharmacies
• Petrol stations
• Bicycle shops
• Hardware shops and equipment, plant and tool hire
• Veterinary surgeries and pet shops
• Agricultural supplies shops
• Corner shops and newsagents
• Off-licences and licenced shops selling alcohol, including those within breweries
• Laundrettes and dry cleaners
• Post offices
• Vehicle rental services
• Car garages and MOT services, though no MOTs will need to be carried out for a few months
• Car parks
• High street banks, building societies, short-term loan providers, credit unions and cash points
• Storage and distribution facilities, including delivery drop off points where they are on the premises of any of the above businesses
• Public toilets
• Shopping centres may stay open but only units of the types listed above may trade
• Outdoor and indoor markets
• Market stalls which offer essential retail, such as grocery and food.