Milton Keynes' intu shopping centre prepares to re-open on Monday despite crippling financial problems

Bosses at intu are battling insolvency and have a two week deadline to find lenders to bail them out of debt. They have already put administrators on standby in case their efforts fail. See Citizen story here .

To make matters worse, intu's flagship store Debenhams will never re-open. It was announced earlier this week as one of the stores to be permanantly closed due to Debenham's own cash crisis nationally. See Citizen story here .

Victoria's Secret is another intu store that has fallen victim to the Covid-19 crisis and this too will remain shuttered.

intu has published a list of stores that will re-open on Monday, together with their opening hours. These include Zara, LEGO, Topshop, Topman and Burton, but there is no mention of H&M. You can see the list here .

At the next door centre:mk more shops have survived the crisis. Monsoon and Accessorize announced yesterday that 32 of their stores will close but it is not known if the centre:mk store is on the their hit list.

Centre:mk bosses say stores such as Primark, Next, M&S, John Lewis, TK Maxx that are "scheduled to fully re-open over the next few weeks" but are keeping mum about the exact dates.

They have launched a ‘play your part’ campaign for shoppers to help keep the centre infection free.

"The ‘play your part’ guidance focuses on more than just social distancing. As the number of customers entering the centre is set to increase from June 15, the ‘play your part’ guidance includes a range of measures targeted at ensuring customers can return with confidence. These measures are an essential part of the careful but deliberate steps that the centre is taking in order to rebuild the local economy," said a centre:mk spokesman.

He added: "The centre:mk has been planning its phased re-opening for a number of weeks while working closely with the 190 retailers in the centre to put a health and wellbeing protocol in place, which reminds shoppers to ‘play your part’.

Kevin Duffy, Centre Director at centre:mk said today: “We have missed so many of our guests over the past few weeks and I am pleased to say we are now getting ready to welcome them back”.

He said centre:mk has 18 sets of doors, which will be held open and used for either entry or exit. A one-way, keep left system will be in operation, with clear markers on the floor indicating which way to walk and capacities are being monitored throughout the day. Stores may need to ask customers to wait to enter - being patient and waiting in the areas indicated will ensure they gain access as quickly as possible.

The centre is advising that although they are open from 9am to 8pm every day, store opening times may vary. The website, centremk.com, will update on individual store hours, while social channels will be announcing store openings.

Toilets and Guest Services will be open, but customers are being asked to check centremk.com for full details of the guest services available, how to book mobility scooters and for regular updates. If travelling by car, visitors should park as close to the shops they want to visit as they can, using both the surface level and multi-storey car parks.

Meanwhile intu says a "task force of experts" has created detailed and adaptable plans for each of its centre. It will manage queues outside the centre when capacity is reached and there will be a raft of other measures including one-way systems, floor stickers and queues outside stores to ensure visitors stay socially distanced once inside.

Enhanced hygiene regimes that were introduced at the start of the outbreak will continue, with more deep cleaning of key areas and touchpoints like escalators, toilets and keypads.. Hand sanitation stands will also remain at entrances and other locations throughout each centre for visitors to use during their visit.

Research released by intu last week shows that over 70 per cent of regular shopping centre visitors would actively encourage compulsory hand sanitation, protective screens at tills, limitations on the numbers able to enter stores at any one time, and 2m distance markers. Over 60 per cent would actively encourage in-store security and CCTV or other technology to control crowds, cashless stores, and would be happy with an average wait time of 10 mins for store entry, to allow for safety.

Matthew Roberts, chief executive of intu, said: “We are looking forward to welcoming more visitors back to intu Milton Keynes and our other centres from 15 June in line with Government guidance. Our centres have and will always be at the heart of their local communities. intu supports around 3% of all retail jobs in the UK and our centres are home to some of the biggest and best brands, so we are doing everything we can to make them safe places to visit and work.

“We know we cannot do this alone and everyone who visits our centres whether for work or to shop will play their part in keeping themselves and each other safe by following the official guidelines, and the instructions and safety information provided by our teams.

“Whilst the experience for everyone that visits intu Milton Keynes will be different to normal, our teams will be on hand to deliver that warm welcome our centres have become known for.”