Should they change the Sunday Opening Hours?

[Tilda77]

Just that really..DH and I were then pondering going to the supermarket but have no mood at the moment and time is running out as they shut at 4pm.
I was just wondering what others thought of this law that large shops are only allowed to open for 6 hours on a Sunday? We would probably have gone to the supermarket a little later if that was an option. Some people may like to work on a Sunday to be able to earn some extra wages? Does anyone think it's time to change the laws or do you think they should stay the same ?

Absolutely.
The only people working should be those who are needed to stop bad things happening in the country.

Nothing wrong with meeting up at home, or in parks etc. I think everyone needs time to rest and prepare for the week ahead, to see friends and family without having to scratch around trying to find a date and time where everyone is free just to have a cup of tea and a gossip. Because we know work seven days a week, friends often have different shifts meaning it can be weeks and months before they can catch up, I don't think this is healthy for any society.

How does making everything crazily busy on Saturday make sense. So you expect people to do their shopping, their socialising, their days out, cinema trips, etc all squeezed into Saturdays with everyone else doing the same?

How can it be sensible to basically shut everything down on a Sunday? We've had 18 months of covid lockdowns and restrictions where things were shut down unnecessarily and look at the sheer cost of disruption that's caused.

Fine, we get it, you want to be able to be free to go to other peoples' houses and take a picnic to sit in a park on a Sunday. The vast majority of people don't want to do that.

A few decades ago, everyone had to take their annual holiday at the same time when entire towns closed for their Summer break, when most people worked in the mills or associated trades. I suppose you want to go back to those days too?

We had a family newsagents shop back in the 70s and 80s.

Sundays was our busiest day by far. It wasn't just the odd person coming in for their Sunday newspaper. We were busy for everything really, cigarettes, sweets/chocolates, magazines, groceries, toys, etc. Those were the days when there wasn't anywhere else to buy stuff, no petrol station convenience stores, etc and "normal" shops couldn't open. It was one of the reasons why newsagents were a very popular business to buy, and why they were so expensive to buy! We'd open all day from 6am to 6pm and would probably have sales equal to 3 or 4 "normal" days, so maybe 1/3 of our takings were from one day!

There were a few restrictions on what we could sell. From memory, we couldn't sell greetings cards, but we got around that by putting the cost on the customer's news account, so they effectively took the cards and "bought" them another day when they paid their paper bill at the end of the week! Just like how today shops open early on Sunday for "viewing".

It was bonanza time for us on Easter Sunday (nothing else was open so we could literally sell hundreds of Easter eggs), bonfire night if it fell on a Sunday as people couldn't buy fireworks anywhere else, Mother's day (for flowers and chocolate boxes), etc.

To say even back then that no one wanted to shop on a Sunday is bonkers.

Fine, we get it, you want to be able to be free to go to other peoples' houses and take a picnic to sit in a park on a Sunday. The vast majority of people don't want to do that.

Neither you or I are the vast majority of people, you don't want that and that's fine. I wonder if having time together could improve the mental health of the country saving money. I could go to the cinema/pub/ cafe 6 days in the week, it would make them slightly busier through that time and I might not be the only one in a cinema screening, but they could save energy costs on the Sunday which would also be better for the environment.

Rampant consumerism isn't healthy for us or the environment and having a pause for one day in seven wouldn't be a bad thing.

Where you even alive during the 70s and 80s because that's not all all what it was like. Shops weren't manic, supermarkets where much smaller then not the supercentres you have now. You went to diffent shops for bakery and meat, clothing, electrical,music items etc. Shops were not manic, I would often go with my parents food shopping on Saturday mornings.

They weren't manic because there were thousands more of them, and they were spread out. You didn't go to one huge shop. You went to your local precinct which would have a greengrocer, butcher, grocers, newsagent, hardware store, etc. The people living on the next estate would go to their local precinct, etc. Some people would go to the "bigger" shops on a High Street for better range of goods etc and towns would typically have a few "High Streets" in different parts of town.

Thousands of small/independent shops closed down when the big supermarkets firstly opened in town centres by knocking multiple shops together, then there was mass demolition in town centres for shopping centres built around large supermarkets, and then came huge out of town supermarkets, which in turn, killed off town centre shopping centres.

We're not going back to those days. So Saturdays WILL be manic because people will continue to crowd to the 2 or 3 out of town supermarkets as they can't all wonder down the road to their local precincts because they simply don't exist anymore.

Yes I was definitely alive thanks 🙄 Times are very different now and to close everywhere on a Sunday would have huge repercussions for the only other day of the weekend.

This

Yes, and likewise petrol stations, public transport, etc. Presumably the poster who wanted a "quiet Sunday with friends/family" would be happy to walk there as it's clearly unfair to expect bus and train drivers, petrol station attendants, etc to work on Sundays, isn't it??

I think that they should be able to open later. They'll only do it if it's worthwhile. Given how understaffed shops are, they won't open longer hours if they don't make enough sales - so the market would decide rather than a bunch of MPs. It would give sixth formers and students more opportunities to earn money.

I would like to see more shops open. A winter afternoon in a town centre with a load of closed shops is pretty dull even if you have a cinema or something similar. And I also think it's safer to have a busy town centre.

I wonder if having time together could improve the mental health of the country saving money

you assume that everyone wants to spend time with others; and

I wonder if having time together could improve the mental health of the country saving money

and indeed that everyone has people to spend that time with.

Shopping doesn't mean rampant consumerism, it might just mean getting out of the house and having a wander around. And being able to work on a Sunday might help a lot of peoples' financial situations.

If you don't want to go to a shop after 4pm on a Sunday, don't. It doesn't affect you if others do want to though.

I misquoted there, the second one should have been "I think everyone needs time to rest and prepare for the week ahead, to see friends and family without having to scratch around trying to find a date and time where everyone is free just to have a cup of tea and a gossip"

The poster assumes everyone has friends and family to see.

People who want all shops shut on a Sunday do you also want all other none essential businesses to be closed? Pubs, cinemas, restaurants, swimming pools, bowling alleys, arboretum's, theme parks, beach cafes? Everything shut? Think of all the unemployment this would cause.

The Smiths accurately captured the dreariness and boredom in their song “Every day is like Sunday.”

”Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen
This is the coastal town
That they forgot to close down
Armageddon, come Armageddon
Come, Armageddon, come

Every day is like Sunday
Every day is silent and grey

Hide on the promenade, etch a postcard
"How I dearly wish I was not here"
In the seaside town
That they forgot to bomb
Come, come, come, nuclear bomb

Every day is like Sunday
Every day is silent and grey

Trudging back over pebbles and sand
And a strange dust lands on your hands
And on your face
On your face
On your face
On your face

Every day is like Sunday
"Win yourself a cheap tray"
Share some greased tea with me
Everyday is silent and grey”

There seems to be a mix of those that are for opening longer on a Sunday, those that are against and those that want the shops closed again completely.

I do agree that shops are open long enough but maybe the hours they are open could be spread more evenly across the 7 days?

But I still don’t understand the need for enforced closure. If you don’t want to shop on a Sunday, don’t go. If you don’t want to work on a Sunday, work another shift or find a line of work that keeps office hours or whatever. But recognise that other people have different lives! I’d love to do my food shop on a weekday evening, but by the time I’ve done nursery pick up, dinner, bath and bedtime, it’s 7.15 and I need to fit in exercise, errands and a bit of down time before bed, as well as probably finishing some work off. Going on a Saturday or Sunday suits me much better.

But it doesn't just affect you, it affects the people that work in the shops as well.

People only have so much money to spend. They can spend it during the long hours that shops are open for Monday-Saturday. Supermarkets aren't going to start opening more hours on Sunday just to suit a few selfish people who can't pull themselves together to go to shopping during the 6 hours they already open.

This. I grew up when everything except gas stations were open on Sunday. My parents just did all their shopping on Saturday, if they needed something on Sunday they were just shit out of luck. We survived thru it.

My view is that the first change should be to close large shops on Boxing Day and New Year's Day. The six hours under the current law would be later for many shops were it not for early darkness in December, the busiest time for most retailers.

What I notice about many who argue for longer hours or no restrictions is that very few of them ever work at weekends themselves.

That's a silly argument, insinuating that it's the same people going all the time, every day.
Clearly it's not. 🤷‍♀️

I agree that the shops shouldn't be open Boxing Day and New Year's Day.
After starting this thread DH and I have decided that we will be making more of an effort to do our shopping Monday to Friday so at the weekends we will have no need to go to any shops and can enjoy our weekends off work

I’ve been gone from the UK for so long I’d actually forgotten about the Sunday hours there. Here in Ireland shops can open all day, although alcohol can’t be sold until 12.30. In my supermarket hourly paid staff get time and a half for Sundays ( the unions are better here) and in December it’s double time for a Sunday. The staff are pleased to get Sundays and I try to share them out. It’s one of our busiest days and as I work most Saturdays it’s good to be able to for a days shopping at the weekend.

We are also closed on Boxing Day and New Years Day and close early Christmas Eve.

Honestly get rid of Sunday opening hours

I used to work in retail in Westfield - which had long opening hours. I've done my fair share of Sunday retail shifts and frankly didn't mind them. We got paid extra and it's quiet, and ultimately staff are getting paid to be there during a cost of living crisis. As a student, it was an ideal shift for example as I had other obligations during the week. Working on a Sunday isn't necessarily heinous and staff don't necessarily not want to be at work.

Not everyone is religious these days to see Sunday as a day of rest.

As an adult that works M-F now, it's annoying having to rush around and cram a bunch of things in on the Saturday because the world comes to a standstill on the Sunday. I'd be more productive being able to balance out tasks across my days off. It's a bit annoying not being able to buy groceries after 5pm at my local grocery store on a Sunday for example. Just feels like an outdated concept.

I think 6 hours is a balance.
Although it would be convenient for me if they opened all day ( I work traditional office hours mon-fri)
I dont really like the move to a 24/ 7 society.
Having a weekend is good for families and a time when, hopefully, everyone can be together. We want a 24/7 society for our convenience but it does come at a cost. I wonder if by the time my DC have kids of their own the concept of a weekend will be ancient history and every workplace will be expected to be covered 7 days a week.