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Early Closing and Holidays

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Butts

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I believe that the Sunday trading rules state that the hours must be six between 1000 and 1800. There are, of course, exceptions (small premises, garages, etc??).

Or one huge exception - Scotland :lol:

Beats me why the whole of the UK does not follow Scotland - after all the fabric of society has not been shattered with unrestricted Sunday Trading up here.

It's such an easy argument for pro-extendees to use but I rarely see it put forward. :idea:
 
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Greenback

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Sounds good in principle and its good to see shop owners thinking about their customers, but doesn't that leave all sorts of liability issues?

I suspect that it may. But it probably hasn;t been tested yet!

I believe that the Sunday trading rules state that the hours must be six between 1000 and 1800. There are, of course, exceptions (small premises, garages, etc??).

That is correct for England and Wales. I don't know what the position is in Northern ireland.

Some friends were in Dublin earlier in the year for the rugby. After booking into a hotel early in the morning, they went out to a pub across the road and knocked on the closed door. The conversation with the owner went
- "Are you open?"
- "How many of you are there?"
- "Thirty seven"
- "I am now!"

Excellent! :lol:
 

Hadders

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Some towns have more than one big Tesco. I wonder if they have considered staggering the Sunday opening hours so that one of them opens, say 0800 to 1400 and the other opens, say 1200 to 1800?

In Stevenage there are two large Tesco stores, on Sundays one opens 10am-4pm, the other opens 12noon-6pm.

The Sunday Trading Act in England and Wales came in during 1994. Basically stores with less than 280 square metres of selling space can open any hours they like.

Stores with a selling area greater than 280 square metres may only open for six hours between 10am and 6pm (half an hour 'shopping up' time is allowed and customers can select goods before the store opens as long as they don't pay for them until the store opens).

Large stores must close on Easter Sunday and Christmas Day. All other bank holidays are unregulated and stores may open any hours they choose.

The previous Sunday Trading laws had become a farce as they prescribed what types of goods could be sold (there was a farcical situation where you could buy a magazine but not a bible!) The 1994 Act was a compromise between what the retailers and Government of the day wanted and the opposition of religious groups and the Keep Sunday Special Campaign.

Every few years it there is speculation that the six hours rule for large shops will go, although (suprisingly) many of the large retailers have little appetite for extended Sunday trading (possibly because the big retailers now have large numbers of small stores which would be affected if large shops could open all hours on a Sunday. Note that between 4pm and 8pm on a Sunday is often the busiest time of the week for a small store)

During the Olympics in 2012 the six hours rule of large stores on Sundays was suspended and I expected this to become permanent, however this proved not to be the case as many large stores did not even open for any additional hours.

I can't see the six hour rule for large stores on Sundays changing any time soon.
 

WestCoast

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I actually think that the situation is quite acceptable as it stands in England and is a good compromise. As for grocery shopping is concerned, it's just the larger stores that have restricted opening hours. I live a five minute walk away from two convenience stores that apart from Christmas Day never close! I work part-time in a Supermarket to support University and Sundays are a core part of our contract. I do quite enjoy only having a six hour shift, makes up for if I've had to do a 10 hour one on Saturday. Also, I'd say Sunday can be the busiest day to shop so if you can possibly avoid it. From speaking to other colleagues, there is little appetite for more hours on a Sunday (bearing in mind the place I work is otherwise 24/7 so nights can be rostered).

The situation in England is definitely more liberal than elsewhere. When I was in Switzerland last summer, the large rail stations have morphed into what SBB calls "ShopVille", with lots of food/clothes/electrical shops inside on the size of a fairly large shopping centre! It's because they can get around the complete restriction on Sunday trading there if the shop serves a transport hub; whether that be a rail station, airport or simply a petrol station! Quite amusing really. The situation is similar in Germany but there is limited Sunday hours on local discretion now.

In Sweden and Norway, in comparison to our off-licenses the Government owns the only stores allowed to sell anything other than low-strength alcohol and they close at about 1500 on Saturdays, never mind Sundays!
 
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Deerfold

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The previous Sunday Trading laws had become a farce as they prescribed what types of goods could be sold (there was a farcical situation where you could buy a magazine but not a bible!) The 1994 Act was a compromise between what the retailers and Government of the day wanted and the opposition of religious groups and the Keep Sunday Special Campaign.

I seem to recall that the example mentioned at the time was that you could buy a porn mag on a Sunday but not a bible.

During the Olympics in 2012 the six hours rule of large stores on Sundays was suspended and I expected this to become permanent, however this proved not to be the case as many large stores did not even open for any additional hours.

I think the government announced that too late for many stores to rearrange their rotas without ending up with gaps elsewhere - especially as it would have been a popular time for leave.
 

Hadders

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I seem to recall that the example mentioned at the time was that you could buy a porn mag on a Sunday but not a bible.



I think the government announced that too late for many stores to rearrange their rotas without ending up with gaps elsewhere - especially as it would have been a popular time for leave.

You are correct about the porn mag. I wasn't sure about using that term on here!

I seem to recall that there was plenty of notice about the extended trading hours during the Olympics. The sort of retailers who could have taken advantage of it are not renowned for letting staff scheduling get in the way of an opportunity to increase trade ;)
 

pdq

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I work part-time in a Supermarket to support University and Sundays are a core part of our contract.

I recall that when the Sunday trading laws came in, no one could be forced to work on a Sunday if they didn't want to. Has that law been relaxed now - or am I remembering wrongly?
 

Deerfold

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I recall that when the Sunday trading laws came in, no one could be forced to work on a Sunday if they didn't want to. Has that law been relaxed now - or am I remembering wrongly?

I think it referred only to those already in work with the stores - so 20 years later this will likely be a minorty of staff if this does still apply.

You are correct about the porn mag. I wasn't sure about using that term on here!

Gentlemen's periodical?

I seem to recall that there was plenty of notice about the extended trading hours during the Olympics. The sort of retailers who could have taken advantage of it are not renowned for letting staff scheduling get in the way of an opportunity to increase trade ;)

This http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17419351 suggests they got about 4 months' notice. I don't remember knowing about it long before the Olympics, perhaps because so few stores did anything about it... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18942729
 

Hadders

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I recall that when the Sunday trading laws came in, no one could be forced to work on a Sunday if they didn't want to. Has that law been relaxed now - or am I remembering wrongly?

This is still the case!

A shop worker can give three months written notice to their employer stating that they object to working on Sundays. The employer is not allowed to discriminate against the worker (specifically relating to dismissal, redundancy, payment of bonuses or promotion opportunities) for refusing to work on Sundays.

New workers must be advised of their rights under the Sunday Trading Act within two months of commencing employment.

This does not apply to workers who are contracted to work on Sundays only.

The Act refers to 'Protected Workers' (those employed as shop workers when the Sunday Trading Act was passed and who have been continuously employed as shop workers since) and 'Opted Out' workers (those not employed as shop workers when the Act was passed). In reality there is no difference between protected workers and opted out workers.

I believe that if a worker opts out of Sunday working the employer is not obliged to make their hours up on other days of the week.
 

michael769

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The Scottish model of Sunday trading is, I believe, to leave the matter up to the local council. I find the English system somewhat outdated.

Councils have no powers to regulate Sunday trading - it is entirely up to retailers if and when they wish to open.
 
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