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Sex, rugs and Aston Villa: Britain’s push for ‘new normal’ set to jolt non-essential business into action

Last updated: 10:59 12 Jun 2020 BST, First published: 14:48 11 Jun 2020 BST

Associated British Foods PLC - Sex, rugs and Aston Villa: Britain’s push for ‘new normal’ set to jolt non-essential busines into action
Image credit: Bruce Alan Bennett / shutterstock

Britain’s tilt towards normalcy will ramp-up significantly over the coming days and it will all be keenly followed by investors - that’s if they’re not too distracted in their “support bubbles”.

From Saturday, single people living alone will be allowed overnight visitors according to Boris Johnson’s latest measures to relax lockdown.

These so-called ‘support bubbles’ are intended to combat loneliness.

After a weekend combatting loneliness, Britain’s consumers will have the opportunity to shop in a wide range of non-essential stores.

For the first time in ten weeks John Lewis will open its doors, with social distancing in place to allow shoppers to browse soft-furnishings and all manner of other non-essential furniture, homeware, technology and clothes.

As with most physical retailers, only a few stores will initially open, followed by more later in the week.

Associated British Foods PLC (LON:ABF) owned Primark is also on the list for reopening, and so is Sports Direct parent Frasers Group PLC (LON:FRAS) and Boots – part of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA).

Some Debenhams stores in England will reopen on Monday, while units in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will reopen at a later date (Irish stores have closed for good).

If none of that excites, then how about a sausage roll? Greggs PLC (LON:GRG) earlier this month said it would reopen 800 bakery outlets in mid-June, with at least some of those anticipated from Monday onwards.

For many, though, the biggest highlight of the week will arrive on Wednesday at 6pm as Aston Villa and Sheffield United resume play in the Premier League, followed shortly thereafter by Manchester City vs Arsenal at 8pm.

These will be the first of the remaining 92 Premier League fixtures, all of which will be broadcast live by Sky, BT Group PLC (LON:BT.A), Amazon and the BBC – and will be a significant boon for sports betting firms like Flutter Entertainment PLC (LON:FLTR), William Hill PLC (LON:WHM) and Ladbrokes owner GVC Holdings Plc (LON:GVC) all of which just recently got horse racing back as well.

Whether bubbling, shopping, cheering or betting from the couch there’s suddenly going to be many more possibilities - the market will have to wait and see how much that will translate something like business as usual. 

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