WE Love York is the very clear message welcoming people back to one of the city's popular shopping centres.

The Coppergate Centre has 36 new umbrellas high in the air above visitors, to highlight that the city is open for business with measures in place to keep people safe.

The Brollywalk has captured the imagination of shoppers and visitors over the years, with thousands of photos of dancing umbrellas posted across social media.

The rainbow-themed brollies, installed in May, was a vision of hope at an otherwise quiet time for the city, and was a joint salute to the workers who kept the world running during lockdown and to Pride Month.

They have now been replaced by red, green, blue, yellow and white umbrellas, with We Love York emblazoned on them - with some passers-by already asking where they can be bought.

The Press Love Local Business campaign, which was launched on June 15 when non-essential shops were permitted to reopen, is highlighting the measures being taken to by communities, retailers and businesses to welcome back visitors and shoppers safely.

Pippa Unwin, Coppergate Centre manager, said: “With this new Brollywalk, we wanted to create a message that makes it clear that York is open for business, and that it is still a marvellous place to enjoy culture, shopping and food and drink, even with health-related restrictions in place.

“Most of our shops are now open, and JORVIK will be welcoming visitors back from Saturday morning, and there is a cautious sense of life returning to the city centre.

"It has been particularly reassuring to see how well customers are adapting to the social distancing and hand sanitisation requirements in place – all measures designed to keep us all safe.”

She added: “Photographs of our Brollywalk are shared far and wide – if these umbrellas can plant a seed in the heads of those seeing them to come and visit, that’s a huge positive for the city as a whole.

"Like every other city, York has gone through a very difficult time and the path to recovery isn’t going to involve a quick and easy fix, but we do have the space, capacity and wondrous places that make us uniquely attractive – even whilst we are following distance and hygiene rules,” Pippa added.

The Coppergate Centre is home to Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience which continues to run until December in York St Mary’s while JORVIK Viking Centre re-opens on Saturday 11 July.

The centre is also home to a selection of shops, including Pavers, Fenwick, Primark, Topshop/Topman and Flying Tiger Copenhagen. Clarks and Charles Clinkard add to the collection, as well as specialist retailers like Home & Fragrance Outlet and The Whisky Shop.