FOOTFALL in Oxford city centre was up 70 per cent on Monday compared to the week before, as shops reopened.

With non-essential retailers allowed to reopen as of June 15, Oxford city centre saw an increase in footfall.

Step counters placed by the city council on Cornmarket Street, Queen Street and at Gloucester Green all recorded higher numbers of people strolling by.

READ AGAIN about how the first day of reopening went here

On Cornmarket Street, 13,534 people were counted, a 95.3 per cent increase in footfall.

On Queen Street, 14,516 were counted, or a 64.4 per cent increase.

And at Gloucester Green there were 2,808 people, and increase of 64.4 on the same time last week.

In total 30,858 were recorded on the streets of central Oxford.

However, overall the numbers of people in these streets was still down 70 per cent on average from the same time last year.

On Monday, June 17 last year 49,903 people were recorded on Cormarket Street, 42,955 on Queen Street, and 10,925 at Gloucester Green, totalling 103,783 overall.

The covered market, which also has a step counter on the door, recorded 510 coming through the doors on Monday.

Oxford Mail:

One of the stencils on the floor telling people to keep their distance. Picture: Ed Nix

The number of people able to enter the market at any one time is currently being restricted, and a one-way system is in place inside.

A similar one-way system has been put in place on pavements on High Street, Cornmarket, Queen Street, and several other busy city centre streets.

The system in not enforceable but most shoppers in the city centre appear to be following the stencils on the floor telling them to keep to the left hand side.