TODAY we are celebrating a massive win for Oxford: footfall in our city centre has soared by tens of thousands since the height of lockdown, meaning a massive boost for local business.

Shops, restaurants and cafes – especially independents – can now start to feel more bright about the future.

The Oxford Mail and Oxford City Council cannot claim all of the credit of course, but we are extremely proud to have done our bit to encourage people to get back into the city and support local traders.

‘But wait a minute,’ some might cry, ‘how can the Oxford Mail be urging people to flock back into the city centre and go shopping when it is also decrying the selfish students partying in huge crowds and risking spreading the coronavirus in a dangerous and irresponsible way?’

It’s quite simple – the vast majority of people in Oxford are extremely sensible and responsible adults who are perfectly capable of going into public spaces in safe and respectful ways.

Throughout the easing of lockdown, anyone in the centre of town would have been able to see careful shoppers, clad in their face masks, queuing patiently (if a little frustratedly), socially distancing and waiting for their turn.

Many Oxford Mail readers have been those masked heroes, waiting for ages just to buy the essentials and having to tip-toe around their fellow shoppers, doing the coronavirus waltz with their socially-distanced dance partner.

Until last month, Oxford was doing extremely well at controlling our local virus figures: it was only relatively recently that our head of public health started to warn a small minority – largely made up of people aged 18-to-35, that they needed to rein in their behaviour.

As a city, we are more than capable of both controlling our local infection rate and also safely reviving our economy.

We've taken the first step already, now we just need to keep walking down that road – at a safe social distance, of course.