Pubs, hairdressers and beauticians across England wasted no time welcoming customers back as lockdown restrictions eased at midnight on Monday.
Salons and hairdressers can now treat customers for the first time since the third national lockdown was legally imposed in England on 6 January.
Pub gardens and restaurants with outdoor seating are also now allowed to reopen their doors, along with indoor gyms, swimming pools and non-essential retail shops.
One of the beauty companies delivering midnight services was Secret Spa, which offers at-home salon and spa treatments across London, Manchester and Brighton.
Co-owner Emily Ewart-Perks, hair stylist Nas Ganev and tan artist Magdelaine Gibson, visited a home in Balham, south London, at the stroke of midnight to treat clients Amy Pallister and Isabella Robinson.
Ms Ewart-Perks said: “It’s so amazing. It’s been such a long time coming. I know that our therapists are just so happy to be working with clients again.
“Everyone has really missed the social contact of the day-to-day job and making clients happy. We haven’t been able to do that for the best part of five to six months.”
In some parts of England, customers queued outside their favourite pubs before midnight in anticipation and were welcomed in the second the clock struck 12.
The previous 10pm curfew rule and the requirement to order a substantial meal with a drink will no longer apply to pubs serving only alcohol, but social distancing must be observed.
However, the British Beer and Pub Association estimates that just 40 per cent of licensed premises have the space to reopen to serve customers outdoors.
The prime minister Boris Johnson urged the nation to “behave responsibly” ahead of Monday, and said: “I’m sure it will be a huge relief for those business owners who have been closed for so long, and for everyone else it’s a chance to get back to doing some of the things we love and have missed.
“I urge everyone to continue to behave responsibly and remember ‘hands, face, space and fresh air’ to suppress Covid as we push on with our vaccination programme.”
Additional reporting by PA
