THE requirement to not travel more than five miles was lifted, on Monday, July 6, and people took the opportunity to visit Barry Island.

Some businesses have been open for a few weeks, but others have chosen to stay closed.

Indoor entertainment, such as the arcades, are unable to re-open and Barry Island Pleasure Park offers mainly car parking facilities.

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Whitmore + Jackson owner, David Lewis opened the cafe for the first time on Monday.

“It’s been very interesting,” he said. “The five-mile limit is ended now. There are people around who’ve come from the Valleys, but most of my customers have been locals and my regulars. And being the first day to re-open it’s been absolutely fantastic to see them back.

“We have been completely closed since Sunday, March 22. The things that the government has done have been really helpful. That’s allowed the impact to be minor. I’ve still got the same team and it’s only takeaways. When we’ve got the tables outside that’ll be good again if we’ve got the weather. I am probably going to be able to have the same number of covers outside – about 30 – but no covers inside.

“At the moment there are definitely less people around. Businesses would say they are doing 25 to 30 per cent right now.”

Ceri Jones, of Barry, “It’s the first time over Barry Island. I can’t believe how busy it is. I wasn’t too sure whether we were still in lockdown. It feels like it’s gone back to normal. There’s lines down, but you don’t know whether you are on the right side or not.”

Mum-of-two Rhiannon Sullivan, of Pontypool, said: It’s the first day we’ve come out. We’ve finally got to see each other. We’re making the most of the five-mile rule going. It’s so good to be out and support local businesses.”

Pauline Emmott, of Cardiff, said: “It’s the first time we’ve been able to hug our grandsons since March 9. I was a bit nervous coming, but everyone’s being quite sensible. We love the seaside.”

Lauren Diment, of Cardiff, visited with her mother and father-in-law and daughter.

“This is the first time,” she said. “It’s been really nice to get away from Cardiff.”