“From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction - you must stay at home.”

These were the powerful words that Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke one year ago today when addressing the nation that the UK would enter its first coronavirus lockdown.

And the lockdown left town centres feeling like a ghost town, with shops, gyms, pubs and restaurants all forced to shut as we all started to adapt living in a new normal.

When we went to visit Watford town centre during the first lockdown on a Saturday night, the usual vibrant nightlife had gone. Instead, the town centre had somewhat of an eerie atmosphere, with businesses having shut up shop and residents staying at home.

Watford Observer:

Watford Observer:

The few people who were out kept a respectful distance away from each other in line with the Government’s advice, while police were also on patrol in the town centre.

Fast forward one year and the town centre remains quiet, with England having been placed into a third lockdown at the start of January.

The end is in sight, however, with Mr Johnson’s road map out of lockdown plan gradually reducing lockdown restrictions over the next few months.

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People across the UK took part in a minute’s silence to remember Covid-19 victims after a terrible 12 months.

MPs and peers in both Houses of Parliament and ministers in the devolved nations marked the anniversary at midday, while NHS and social care workers also joined the pause for reflection.

The Queen reflected on the “grief and loss felt by so many” as she paid tribute to the service of health and care workers in a message to St Bartholomew’s Hospital, where the Duke of Edinburgh had heart surgery.

At a Downing Street press conference, Mr Johnson said: “For the entire British people it has been an epic of endurance and privation, of children’s birthday parties cancelled, of weddings postponed, of family gatherings of all kinds simply deleted from the diary.

“And worst of all, in that time, we have suffered so many losses and for so many people our grief has been made more acute because we have not been able to see our loved ones.”