A SECOND national lockdown is “catastrophic” news for town centre retailers and if it goes on for more than a month could be the death knell for some shops, it has been claimed.

From Thursday, England will once again be put under strict lockdown conditions, meaning all non-essential shops will have to close along with pubs, restaurants and gyms and the like.

The move from the Government comes as the coronavirus infection rate rapidly rises across Britain, including in Colchester - where latest figures show it is now 132.5 cases per 100,000.

Non-essential retailers will close until at least December 2, but there are concerns this period could be extended if the R number, the rate coronavirus is growing in England, cannot be brought below one quick enough.

Sam Good, manager of Our Colchester Business Improvement District, described news of a second lockdown as “another dagger in the heart” for retailers.

He said: “There is no avoiding the fact this is catastrophic for our retail and hospitality industry going into the most important time of the year.

“Without being over the top, if we do not have a good Christmas we will see a lot of businesses not reopening next year.

“We have to plead with residents to please shop local this Christmas in a bid to keep our firms going.

“We have just seen the rules change as Essex entered Tier Two which already brought a huge drop in footfall because of the no mixing of households rule.

“Hopefully we can reopen at the start of December so there’s still time for sales in the run up to Christmas throughout the whole of December.

“But if it is delayed until mid December it is going to be catastrophic. To put it bluntly, sadly, if we do not have a good Christmas many businesses will not survive.

"We will be doing everything we can to support businesses and are working closely with local authorities to get support out as fast as possible."

Bill Nettlefield, owner of Bill and Bert’s gift shop, in Sir Isaac’s Walk, said every retailer in the town would suffer as a result of the second lockdown.

He said: “If we can reopen in December we should be ok but if we cannot it will decimate the high street in the new year.

“There is not a retailer in the country which doesn’t need Christmas. The impact of missing Christmas trade will be absolutely huge on the whole of the high street.”