New hand sanitiser units installed in town centre

Six new units which dispense hand-gel have been installed in Hinckley Town Centre.

Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council in conjunction with Hinckley BID is working with businesses to get Hinckley town centre ready to safely reopen following the announcement that retail and shops can reopen from Monday 15th June.

New safety measures which includes pavement signeage, banners, hand sanitiser stations, stewards to help and advise shoppers and guidance for shops to keep ‘covid-compliant’ are among the precautions being implemented to help adhere to social distancing guidance.

The team are also supporting shopping areas across the borough. 

Council Leader Stuart Bray said:

For everyone emerging from lockdown it is going to be a learning process. As things unfold, we will all need to change our processes and our shopping and town centres are no different.

Our approach currently is based on trusting people to follow the social distancing guidance and highlighting the safeguards that need to be in place to protect our residents, visitors and businesses. We will be reviewing how the first few days go and if we need to review and change our plans we will do.  We will do whatever we can to make sure our borough is safe. 
We do however need our residents to play their part; follow the guidelines and consider carefully and plan their shopping to ensure their safety and the safety of others.”

Steve Wegerif, Hinckley BID Director said: “Throughout the pandemic we have been working to help support the businesses in our area and as our town centre starts to slowly re-open it is our priority to support them during this ‘new normal’.  

There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work going on to enable the town to reopen safely, all part of a borough-wide recovery strategy.

To assist residents with their shopping requirements there is a listing of shops, already open and planning to re-open on the 15 June (hinckleybid.co.uk)

A full list of shops which can open from 15 June (although some are already allowed to be open), includes:

• Food retailers
• Chemists
• Hardware/homeware stores
• Fashion and footwear shops
• Charity shops
• Betting shops and arcades
• Tailors, dress fitters and fashion designers
• Car dealerships (from 1 June)
• Auction houses
• Antique stores
• Retail art galleries
• Photography studios
• Gift shops and retail spaces in theatres, museums, libraries, heritage sites and tourism sites
• Mobile phone stores
• Stationers and printers
• Outdoor markets (from 1 June)
• Craft fairs
• Similar types of retail