When did shops and businesses in the UK stop 'early closing day' ?

[WildRosie]

I'm not really old enough to remember but I don't imagine it was a sudden change in policy from the British Retail Consortium or whoever. Early closing day did get a mention in The Likely Lads film in 1976 when Bob and Terry are considering a trip to Boots the Chemist. The supermarkets would have really been gathering pace by then and I don't think they ever closed on Tuesday or Wednesday afternoons. I expect it was a gradual change over some years, perhaps even more so in rural communities.

It was still going strong in the late nineties/early-2000’s in village shops in Derbyshire.

Our post office still closes early on Wednesdays.

We still have half day closing...

Mid to late-80s in my part of Northants. On Thursdays, I think.

Late 80s where I live in the south west.

I remember eaely closing day in the late 90s (London-Kent border). Different 'towns' had different days.

I can remember when John Lewis on Oxford Street closed at 1pm on Saturdays .

Most of our shops still do half day Wednesdays. But few do that on Saturdays.

It changed in the mid 1990s trading laws. The half day closing was actually a law, not a choice. When the Sunday trading hours changed so did the half day closing, in law!

Our whole village still closes at 1pm on a Wednesday (when they’re allowed to be open, that is).

@Ragwort

I can remember when John Lewis on Oxford Street closed at 1pm on Saturdays .

How did people manage?!

A similar Q my dc ask when I talk about Sunday trading laws

Thankyou all. I didn't expect be told it was still a thing in the 1990s, let alone still happening today in places. Nor did I realise it was a law thing.

A couple of shops in Perth still close half day Wednesday.

My South Wales valley high street closes half day Thursday every week

When I worked in retail in the 80s and 90s a lot of the independent shops in the town centre closed on Wednesday afternoons. The town would be so quiet.

It's still a thing. Shops near me still do half day on Wednesday.

Still a thing here too, although less so in the last couple of years. I like it.

Ours used to be Tuesday. Not sure when it ended though. Probably mid 90s

My little town still does this, as does parts of the nearest city - Wednesdays.

Yep. Still happens here in my bit of Norfolk. Wednesday is half day closing.

The legislation that introduced half day closing was the 1912 Shops Act, which wasn't repealed until 1994, but half day closing had been becoming less widespread since the mid 1980s.

I remember it as a child in the 90s in Herts, in a decent sized market town. So you're probably looking at the late 90s for it dying out there when the independents closed and high street homogeneity decended.

The village post office where I live now still has the most random opening times.

Still a thing here in the North East. A lot of shops and hairdressers etc. either stay closed all Wednesday or Wednesday afternoons.

NI still had it when I was growing up in early 00s