Britain’s cities will soon be filled “full of buzz and excitement” again according to the Prime Minister, who downplayed suggestions that urban life will fundamentally change following the pandemic.

Boris Johnson acknowledged that the trend to work from home may provide more opportunity for offices to be turned into residential developments, but said once people have the confidence to return to cities they will.

Addressing the Downing Street briefing on Monday, he spoke of the “paradox” that the more remote communications improve, “the more people actually want to see each other face to face”.

He added: “Our great cities will bounce back along with the rest of the economy when we get this roadmap (to recovery) delivered.”

The Prime Minister made his remarks in response to a question asking if there was a risk of city centres such as London, Manchester and Birmingham being “hollowed out” as more workers choose to operate from home and shoppers stay away.

“There will be changes as a result of this pandemic and some trends will accelerate, but I don’t believe this is going to mean a fundamental change to the way our life in our big cities really works,” he added.

Boris Johnson’s comments were welcomed by Centre for Cities’ director of policy and research Paul Swinney. “I share the Prime Minister’s confidence about the long term futures of cities, which have bounced back from pandemics and plagues throughout history,” he said.

“While the easing of lockdown restrictions last summer boosted footfall in many city centres, larger cities such as London and Manchester lagged behind as people stuck to their own neighbourhoods.

“To ensure that bigger cities recover fully this year, urban transport authorities need to step up their plans to convince people of the safety of buses, trains and trams for both leisure visitors and, crucially, commuters.”

Latest figures from the Department for Transport show that while car traffic is around 60% of usual levels, rail travel is around 14% and Underground journeys in London are at 18% of normal occupancy.

This week Network Rail announced that escalator handrails at Euston station in London are being cleaned using ultra violet light in an effort to protect passengers from the spread of Coronavirus. Light is shone onto the handrail surface from a unit inside the escalator.

“I hope this UV technology will give passengers returning to public transport confidence when lockdown travel restrictions can be eased,” said Euston station manager Joe Hendry.

(Photograph: Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street)