Islington Council has closed all street markets in the borough until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic.

All street markets are closed from Friday onwards. The town hall says it will reopen them as soon as it is safe to do so.

David Twydell, chair of Chapel Market Traders’ Association, told the Gazette: “It needs to be done. There’s some people who have got to go to work because it’s vital but there is always going to be somewhere [other than street markets] to but food, so if this is what the council says we have got to go along with it. I hope people are only going out as a necessity, we have all got to be sensible about this. It’s not only us we have got to protect, it’s other people as well. It’s sad the markets have closed but the consequences [of them not closing] are a lot worse.”

There are 188 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Islington as of 9am on Thursday, according to Public Health England (PHE).