AFTER nearly three months of lockdown, Marlborough’s independent shops threw open their doors this morning.

Bright sunshine saw hundreds of shoppers hit the High Street around 10am, waiting for some of the town’s stores to switch their signs.

Maddie George, an 18 year old student from Calne was queuing outside the White Horse Bookshop with her mum, eager to get her hands on a real book.

“I’ve had enough of Kindle, and fancy having some actual books,” said the former Dauntsey’s pupil who is hoping to study history and German at university. “And we wanted to come to an independent shop rather than a book store chain.”

Mum Louise George said “We have a family book club so I’m here to get some books for that too.”

They were the first of more than a dozen shoppers through the door in the first 20 minutes and left with an armful of books each. The shop manager Angus McLennan said he had no sense of how many people to expect.

“We are busier than a usual Monday morning, “ he said. “But we will have to see how irt goes over the next few months.”

Staff in all the open shops were wearing protective masks and hand sanitisers were on display at entrances.

For some of the Marlborough independents, opening up couldn’t come soon enough.

Roger Mortimer of music store Sound Knowledge said times have been tough. “We are a bricks and mortar business,” he said. “We hope that the next few months really pick up for us. Please please come and shop.”

Independent estate agent Jones Robinson also put it’s open for business sign out. Michael Simpson was behind his desk and already taking calls.

“We have noticed quite a bit of interest in the below £400k housing market,” he said. “We are getting a few calls from people from London and Reading looking to move further out, but at this stage, I’m not sure if that is a higher than usual number.”