To think it's time to abolish Sunday trading rules in England

hlskj
How come it’s only retail staff that deserve time off? Hospitality, care, emergency workers, shift work in office? FWIW, worked retail and hospitality in younger years and never had an issue, had time off midweek to compensate.

Except when you have kids it means you don’t get any time with them seven days a week, they’re in school Monday to Friday then you’re working Saturday and Sunday. And unfortunately some jobs are 24/7, I think they deserve time off too but you can’t close down an emergency department and it would be strange having people stay in a hotel Saturday night and then nobody to help them Sunday!!!

How many hours a week do you need to go shopping? You can did use shops like Tesco Express etc. Online food shops deliver after 5pm.
Also buses to nearest town to me is once at hour, the next nearest town has no bus at all on a Sunday!
Why do you care what England do if you live in Scotland!

I'm in a city in the north. Aside from Sundays here Tesco opens at 6am. Morrisons and Sainsburys open at 7am. Asda is 24hr. Lidl, Aldi and M&S are 8am. Earliest closing is 8pm.

How can that not be enough shopping hours??

It's not just about the Christian tradition though. It's about spending some time as a family. Kids are home Sat and Sunday, so if you are working then you get very limited family time. Then add holiday entitlement to the list. If you happen to work a Saturday and want to holiday in Britain it is invariably Sat-Sat, this messes things up as it then can mean you have to come back a day early or go a day later as you can only have so many off at one time and that would leave the cross over day very short on staff. Most retailers close 2 days a year, Christmas Day and Easter Sunday, majority of offices are closed, every weekend, and every evening. Most people who come in shopping later on a Sunday do so because they have been enjoying family time. You can get home delivery up to 11pm any week night it shouldn't be necessary to shop on a Sunday

In retail and people always say ‘oh it’s great as you get time and a half’ and I’m like ‘yeah, great on the day everyone else is lazing about I don’t see my kids’. Ihate Sunday trading, close them I say, in my old job there was one Sunday we made fifty quid all day with three of us in and the manager still kept the shop open ten until six! People just wander, they’re not out to buy

How come it’s only retail staff that deserve time off? Hospitality, care, emergency workers, shift work in office? FWIW, worked retail and hospitality in younger years and never had an issue, had time off midweek to compensate.

Why? How can the other 6 days of long opening hours not be enough? Surely to fuck we can all manage for a few hours once a week with big shops closed?

I think shop keepers should be allowed to choose, they are missing out on valuable weekend trading but allowed to open on weekdays when footfall is very limited. I work in high street regeneration and it is a shame that footfall is restricted on Sundays and reduces dwell time. Lots of people don’t bother going out which leads to increases in online shopping being delivered in the week because most people aren’t able to access shops on a weekday.

That winds me up too. Wednesdays are my day off and in usually trying to cram everything in that day

Retail workers don’t suddenly finish their shifts at 4pm on a Sunday. If they did then the “they deserve a break” argument would hold but it just doesn’t.

No. Why does a 'normal' week mean being able to shop 24/7?! What about the retail staff- are they not allowed some time off?

It’s not the same vibe. Can get too rowdy and a lot of pubs aren’t family friendly.

Of course. But I never go to a pub for a coffee. I normally want a snack with the coffee like some cake, a scone or something. I just prefer a coffee place environment. Pub fine for a Friday night out with a glass of wine. But prefer to go to a proper cafe on a school night dog walk!

If you seriously can’t cope with large stores closing a few hours early one day of the week people need to get a grip. Or is this another thinly veiled threat trying to undermine the Christian basis of much of the culture in England? When I was a kid shops were closed on a Sunday and Wednesday afternoon for the most part. Everyone managed. Personally I’d like to go back to Sunday closing

Also Scottish, and living in Scotland and happy with our non restricted hours.

I’m not quite sure though why you’re so concerned about what the rules are elsewhere though. Let them do them?

You realise you can get a coffee in a pub which are open long hours

Pub?

Agree with this. During summer months when we’re walking the dog after work and just want to pop in somewhere for a coffee, there’s literally nothing open locally unless we travel to a town with a Costa cafe. Other European countries are a lot more flexible with opening times. And Sundays are worse because of the early closing times, you can’t get anything to eat anywhere cheap and cheerful after 3, to fit in with early finishes.

Why is it a shame? In Britain it’s pubs rather than cafes. These are open long hours everyday. Just go to a pub surely

I live in very rural Scotland our nearest supermarket Tesco is open 8-10pm on Sunday as already said we don’t have Sunday trading laws up here. Food is definitely not more expensive in fact if anything it’s cheaper. I frequently do my weekly shopping on Sunday evening. In contrast most cafes round here are often shut on Sunday and in fact usually after 4 pm except in more touristy areas I’m assuming due to lack of customers.
Plenty of people here shop in Tesco on Sunday evening not because they are disorganised but because it suits them and their lives and anyway so what if they are disorganised rather that than smug.

Tell you’ve never worked in retail!

I’d be all for all shops completely closing on Sundays and on every single bank holiday.

if you can’t manage to do you shopping during the other 6 days on the week then that’s a you problem.

I think it would be way better if stores opened their 6 hours on a Sunday from 8am to 2pm or 3pm to 9pm or similar. Surely better for the retail workers to have a whole morning free or most of the afternoon/evening than a bit right in the middle of the day which means you can't really do anything in the morning or the afternoon.

Yes it’s just the OH fam come from Med culture so it’s a bit hard to entertain them here. Thankfully we have a place there so get to escape for the summer.

Sundays where big stores are is closed all day would be nice. I’m not remotely religious. Society needs to slow down (and people need to be more organised if they can’t cope with 7 days per week access to a supermarket).

And good that retail workers get at least part of the day guaranteed off.

Plenty of retail workers work Sunday as a normal working day. When I worked in Tesco I worked 8pm to 6am. Didn't make any difference that it was a Sunday.