to think the government has no grounds to control when shops are open and for how long

[Objection]

Like many people, I'm always thrown by shop closures at Easter. I really don't understand WHY the government deems it necessary to restrict or ban shops from opening - surely that should be at the owners descretion?
Unless I'm missing some crucial point, surely Easter is optimum time for shopping and the economy would benefit from it?

Well, we did cope. We both had driving licenses and vehicles. What was worse were the years I spent on minimum wage working in catering. I used to dread bank holidays, including Christmas Day.

I have said all I need to say about this here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2057977-To-HATE-Easter-Sunday?pg=1

Vivacia why does it take two people to go food shopping.
Also, online shopping and 24 hour shopping.

Delivery is stupid times or none existent over the easter bank holiday weekend.

Objection have you never worked in retail I take it.
If you say to an employer that you don't want to work the hours given then it is made very clear that there are people queuing out the door for your job.

I had a delivery on Wednesday and I have another coming tomorrow.

I agree!

Whilst it's undoubtedly nice for retail workers to have Easter Sunday off, the whole Sunday trading hours is archaic. It came to be long before our society took the form it has today. We now live in a 24/7 world. As most people work Monday - Friday, the weekend is the time they will spend money. Limiting this to 6hrs on a Sunday can't be good for the economy. Tourists are usually baffled as to why everything shuts on Sundays too.

Aside from that, what about other non essential workers - chefs, waiters, cinema staff, soft play workers etc??? Do they not deserve the same as retail workers?

For those who want shops open, what do you want to buy so desperately that can't wait? Even if you want to browse, why must it be today?

I've just checked, there are still delivery slots for tomorrow.

Yabu

It's great to have one day of rest with no shops open.

Shops won't be losing money to competitors because no one is open.

And it's great for the shop workers to get a day off. Your theory that if they want the day off they should just request it, is unworkable.

Just for one day for things to be closed, people should plan and work round it.

Traditional, and nice, in this fast moving world.

Good Pipbin but I don't. YANBU OP. The sooner this changes the better.

Pipbin why can't people go without eating out, or a Sunday afternoon in the pub, or an icecream at the beach, or the broken glass picked up in the playground...

Soft play and cinema are both closed here. I would have no issue with restaurant and anything else non essential closing either

The government has played this really well - yes people in retail get a day off while religious people are happy their holiday is celebrated but sod everyone else.

But you can't make a blanket statement like 'Delivery is stupid times or none existent over the easter bank holiday weekend', when it simply isn't true.

The shops are shut for one day. Seriously, you will not starve.
I think it is only those of us who are old enough to remember when all sundays were like this who understand that we will cope.

But my question Vivacia is why you can't either go shopping by yourself (you may well have a very good reason for that) or shop in the shops that are open 24 hours a day for the rest of the year (except Sundays).

No but the government can make a blanket ban on trading on easter Sunday and dub it as a public holiday for workers when really it's an excuse for Christianity to celebrate a holiday (WHICH I DONT BELIEVE IN OR ENJOY)

When the Sunday trading laws were suspended over the Olympics it did not lead to a mass outbreak of bubonic plague, did it?

Time for deregulating bricks-and-mortar shops so that they can compete with the internet traders who did not exist in 1994.

Personally I would welcome the return of no shops open on Sunday.

That would boost the economy.

If everyone knows that the shops are shut on a particular day, they go and shop on the days before, when it is open. If shops are always open it's a case of I won't bother now, I can get it tomorrow.

Saturdays in retail used to be busy. They used to be specially busy days. Now? Forget it.

Elsea, are you old enough to remember the debates on Sunday trading? To get the government to agree to the amount of Sunday opening hours that we have now took a long time.

Saying that shops had to close on Easter Sunday and Christmas Day (when it falls on a Sunday) was the trade off.

Honestly, I don't want to shop today. I also don't want somebody else to choose my shopping on my behalf and deliver it to me. I just think tb e whole thing is completely archaic. I struggle to see the sense in having a day of no trading sandwiched between 2 bank holidays. Bank holidays drive expenditure.

And I have to assume that everybody so opposed to shops being open also takes the same stance with other outlets, so have never been to a restaurant, cafe, hotel, kiosk, cinema, fair, soft play, local shop, petrol station, services, McDonald's etc etc on Easter Sunday??

Continentalcat I wish more people had your attitude. For the record I believe it should only be essential workers who have to work Sundays, we dont give enough importance to family time imho and then wonder why we have fractured families.

OMG - three whole days when people can't shop, Preciousbane!! Ohh the humanity. Will no-one think of the children? Three days when you can't go browsing round the shops - is that really going to ruin people's lives? Read a book, play a game, go for a walk, spend some time with friends and family. And if you can't go a whole 24 hours without acquiring something, shop online.

It is not some terrible deprivation.

Also, if I know the shops are shut on a Sunday I'll shop online instead. I can go to the supermarket at 2am on a Tuesday. I can only shop for other things than food at the weekend, and shockingly sometimes have other things to so on a Saturday.

Given the state of many high streets now, I think shops can ill afford further competition from retail outlets!