Shopping centre giants intu says more people flocked to its Watford centre at the end of last week after it reopened to the public.

intu welcomed shoppers back to its centres on Monday, June 15 - when non-essential shops were given the green light to reopen for the first time since March.

And Britain’s biggest shopping-centre owner said footfall at intuWatford spiked towards the end of last week as more people visited the centre throughout the opening week.

intu said that its centres across the UK welcomed "well over" one million shoppers in total - and that there was a 321 per cent increase of people visiting compared to the weekend before reopening to shoppers.

Gavin Prior, operations director at intu, said: "Footfall at intuWatford increased towards the end of last week and visitor numbers were up by 321% on last weekend across all intu centres, with more than half of stores now open.

“People are visiting us on shopping missions, determined to spend money in their favourite shops, and many stores have told us that basket sizes are up on last year with several ‘big ticket purchases’ such as high end jewellery.

“Fashion brands like Primark, Zara and H&M have all been really popular, with queues forming throughout the day and a regular flow of shoppers."

Mr Prior added that shoppers say they feel safe shopping at intuWatford due to measures that have been put in place in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

This includes hand-sanitising stations across the centre, as well as a one-way system to help people social distance.

Mr Prior added: "Research we undertook during lockdown showed that returning to the shops was high on peoples’ agenda, and we are now seeing that play out.

"As more brands re-open over the next few weeks, we expect visitor numbers to continue to grow.”

Although visitor numbers have increased across intu shopping centres, this morning intu warned that its shopping malls across the UK may have to close if it calls in administrators.

intu confirmed it has put administrators KPMG on stand-by and is negotiating details with lenders as it looks to secure vital breathing space ahead of a deadline on Friday.

It said: "Some centres have reduced rent collections as a result of Covid-19 and cash trapped under their financing arrangements which restrict their ability to pay for support, such as shopping centre staff, from other entities in the Intu group."

intu is hoping to arrange a so-called standstill agreement on terms of up to 18 months, but said that at this stage it is unlikely to be more than 15 months.

intu said: "In the event that Intu Properties plc is unable to reach a standstill, it is likely it and certain other central entities will fall into administration.

"In this situation, all property companies would be required to pre-fund the administrator to provide central services to the shopping centres.

"If the administrator is not pre-funded then there is a risk that centres may have to close for a period."