IT seems many people have been looking forward to picking up a few bargains in south Essex' Primark stores. 

Pictures from both the Royals Shopping Centre, in Southend, and the Eastgate Centre, in Basildon, show long, snaking queues as the budget chain opens its doors for the first time in three months. 

Primark is one of hundreds of non-essential stores which shut at the end of March. 

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Busy - part of the queue, which snakes around the Royals 

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Efficient - staff have been praised for keeping customers informed throughout the day

Shoppers in Southend and Basildon have wasted no time in getting back to "normality", with queues to Sports Direct, in the Eastgate Centre also proving lenghthy. 

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Patient - shoppers waiting outside the Royals to get into Primark

Shopper Chris Watson, 36 from Basildon, was in the Eastgate centre this morning.

He said: "I thought I’d quickly pop in HMV and just have a browse after the shops have been shut for so long, I was actually quiet surprised.

"I did first think it would be really busy here but it’s actually not too bad, there not really any queues except from Primark and Sports Direct."

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Queue - the line for Prmark at the Eastgaste runs along the side of the shop before looping back round on itself to the entrance 

He added: "It’s absolutely rammed outside Primark with police and queues of people outside for the opening. JD is empty you can walk straight in like everywhere else, but I couldn’t believe the amount of people trying to get into Sports Direct.

"I had to actually check with someone that was the right queue! I didn’t expect there to be so many there."

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Markers - a part of the Primark queue at Eastgate. Markers have been put in place to ensure social distancing

Jackie Donovan, 55 from Basildon, added: "We knew it would be this bad and prepped ourselves before we came.

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"We jumped on the bus here and was quite shocked to see the driver wasn’t actually making people put their masks on even though it was compulsory.

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Waiting - the queue for Sports Direct outside the Eastgate centre

"Even so we brought ours with us. We went to Santander and waited for about 30 minutes, understandably there’s a bit of a rush for the banks as they’re only letting in one person at a time.

"Primark is our second shop, the queues are actually quite long but they’re at least moving.

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Snaking - the Eastgate queue contines to grow 

"Standing in the sun while we wait has been the worst part really, when we’re inside it’s not too bad.

"Sports Direct have such a big queue, must be a lot of people after socks after lockdown!" 

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Helpful - staff have been keeping shoppers very much in the loop

She added: "We were worried it would be like when the supermarkets had all the panic  buying, but staff seem to be organising things well. It’s just if people stick to it."

John Hartill, store assistant at Sports Direct, said: "We were prepared for the rush, but personally I didn’t expect it to be this busy.

"We’ve had to go to the back and warn people there’s a two hour queue which I think is mostly down to our NHS deal, we’re giving 50 per cent off to NHS workers.

"Inside we’ve got floor stickers on the floor to keep people at a two metre distance and we’re just making sure they’re spread out inside. It’s great people are wanting to shop with us, I think it brings a sense of normality back."