The glass facade of Barclays Bank shimmers in the warm March sunshine. Inside, there is a queue of just half a dozen people, but as they are standing metres apart the line snakes out of the shop and across Bury’s main shopping street.
It’s the most people I’ve seen all morning. On a typical Wednesday, the town centre bustles with shoppers and workers visiting the shops and restaurants that make up The Rock Shopping Centre.
Today, only a handful of people pass by. Those who do are carrying supermarket shopping bags . Every now and then, a voice echoes along the strip, the sound bouncing off the fronts of the empty shops.
Only those deemed 'essential' remain open: Barclays Bank, Superdrug, Holland & Barrett, and Wilko. It’s an eerie, surreal