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Original poster

To think it is time to extend Sunday opening hours?

635 replies

Sundayopeningplease · 19/02/2023 09:32

It really is time for the restrictive Sunday trading hours to be lifted. The archaic laws have not kept up with modern society.

Sunday may traditionally have been a family day but there have been a lot of changes since then. People are in increasingly different family set ups. The working hours have changed for a lot of people and being able to shop on a Sunday morning would improve things greatly. It would help trade for businesses too.

Sunday is now a major shopping day and the hours need to reflect this.

OP posts:
Spectre8 · 19/02/2023 11:00

I definitely think Xmas should be nothing is open unless its police fire and NHS for obvious reasons. So I am glad to see retial and supermarkets bow going bsck to closing and allowing staff to have the same opportunity many have to have Xmas off.

It is completely uncessary for anyone to work over those days.

As for Sundays no particular opinion i leave it as it is. Those moaning go shop at 11pm theb some stores are 24/7 why don't you go late or super early and adjust your schedule instead.

CrinkleCutChips · 19/02/2023 11:00

DH and I have been saying this for years. It’s so outdated.

Brezel · 19/02/2023 11:01

I think shops should be shut all day Sunday. We use to live in Germany and it was lovely that the shops were closed on Sundays. Also you couldn’t make noise on Sundays like mowing the lawn, DIY etc so Sundays were lovely family days where you had to stop and just enjoy the time together. They did have special Sunday shopping days maybe once every couple of months (I can’t remember exactly) that made shopping on Sundays a bit special!!

Plumbear2 · 19/02/2023 11:02

The problem is we are in the gotta have it now generation. People just carnt plan or wait anymore. When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s many of us didn't have a freezer. People would shop every other day for fresh produce for meals, they had to plan ahead. Even tho shops where closed very Sunday and half day Wednesday. People have just got out of having to plan.

LadyWithLapdog · 19/02/2023 11:03

Just here to say this stands at

YABU 52% vs YANBU 48%

that ill-fated Brexit vote ratio. I don’t think we’ll come to an agreement.

keeprunning55 · 19/02/2023 11:05

I totally agree with you op. I know i have 6 other days to shop and do all that in need, but for those that work those other 6 days, it does make life harder than it needs to be.

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 19/02/2023 11:06

@Vloader23 I worked in a supermarket for a good six years too and the same applied there as well.

Yes, in theory you could opt out of Sundays - but the reality was that anyone who did that in their first two years of service would just be "let go" anyway.

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 19/02/2023 11:07

Exactly @melj1213 - it's really not as simple as just saying "well, people can opt out of Sundays".

The reality is that yes, you can but you also won't be employed for very much longer if that's what you choose!

Botw1 · 19/02/2023 11:09

I dont get why anyone would care about this

If you dint want to shop on any day you dont have to.

Stay at home

ThreeblackCats · 19/02/2023 11:09

@Spectre8 so you think at Christmas, no live news on tv or radio? No repairs if telephone or electric go down, no gas leaks sorted, no AA or RAC, no cars being towed from crash sites, no one working in nursing homes, no flights out of Heathrow to countries that don’t recognise or celebrate Christmas - you’d just shut the airports down?

In other words no one to deal with any of the infrastructure of civilised living?

I hope your boiler never conks out on Christmas Eve. Nor a storm blows your roof off. Because you’d not want to bother the insurance company and deal with getting your roof covered in a temporary tarpaulin on Christmas Eve would you?

Needmorelego · 19/02/2023 11:10

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts so you are basically saying no one should work Sunday unless it's some type of health care or emergency services type of job.
Everything should be shut on Sunday so we can....what? Sit at home staring into space? Am I allowed to watch telly on a Sunday? Because that's means people who work in the TV industry would have to be at work. Aren't they entitled to 'family' time too? Shall we shut down TV broadcasts on Sundays because it's not actually 'essential' to watch TV on a Sunday.

UsernamePain · 19/02/2023 11:11

Take it you don’t work in retail and so expect others to work even more unsociable hours on minimum wage for your convenience

Maverickess · 19/02/2023 11:13

MotherofBingo · 19/02/2023 10:42

I work on Sundays, and on Bank Holidays and holidays like Christmas day and new years eve/day etc. I work in hospitality so not an essential service and I wish people were as determined to give us some family time off as they are shop workers. (I don't actually think shops should be open longer on a Sunday by the way). We don't get paid much extra, if anything at all, for those days either. I got 50p more an hour for Christmas and that's it.

Exactly, things changed a few years ago to being able to apply for a 24 hour licence and when I started in hospitality most pubs shut between 3-7 and at 10.30 on a Sunday, didn't notice anyone defending hospitality workers and extending their hours , working later on Sundays etc when those things changed, and now that some places are closing certain times and days to cut costs people are moaning about that too. Even though it gives hospitality workers more time with their families.

melj1213 · 19/02/2023 11:14

Botw1 · 19/02/2023 10:47

If you don't want to work weekends, don't take a job that involves working weekends

Because everyone has the luxury to pick and choose the job based on whether there's weekend working involved 🙄

I work in retail not because it's my dream career but because, when I moved back from living abroad for over a decade with my small DD and needed money to pay the bills and keep the roof over our heads, retail was the first job I got that was flexible around childcare, allowed me a range of shifts through the day (so on days when DD was with her dad I could work earlier/later/longer but on days when she was with me I could only work shorter daytime shifts) but did require me to work weekends.

I could have turned it down but then we'd have been starving and homeless because, surprisingly enough, office jobs weren't falling over themselves to offer £30k 9.30am-3pm M-F positions to the point where I could pick and choose where I worked.

LadyWithLapdog · 19/02/2023 11:14

It doesn’t have to be an all or nothing situation, some industries can be open and some can have a skeleton staff and service.

I don’t think a move to 24/7 is good for our health.

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 19/02/2023 11:15

Needmorelego · 19/02/2023 11:10

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts so you are basically saying no one should work Sunday unless it's some type of health care or emergency services type of job.
Everything should be shut on Sunday so we can....what? Sit at home staring into space? Am I allowed to watch telly on a Sunday? Because that's means people who work in the TV industry would have to be at work. Aren't they entitled to 'family' time too? Shall we shut down TV broadcasts on Sundays because it's not actually 'essential' to watch TV on a Sunday.

I don't watch live TV anyway so it wouldn't bother me if there was nothing broadcast.

I'd argue that the internet and electricity are both essential so people could watch stuff online if that's what they wanted to do.

I don't think non-essential places need to be open on Sundays, no. If staff are genuinely happy to work that's different but I suspect that's not the case for most.

I suspect there'd be uproar if most non-essential 9-5 staff were suddenly told they had to work weekends and that they'd never be guaranteed any time off with their families ever again unless they used their annual leave.

It's very easy to sit at home and say "well, just pick a different job" or "just don't go out on Sundays if you don't want to" but reality doesn't actually work like that.

melj1213 · 19/02/2023 11:17

Vloader23 · 19/02/2023 10:59

Well sure, if you're hired for Sunday working and don't want to work Sundays then you're just a bit of a lemon aren't you?

Show quote history

🙄 of all the points posted you have only actually acknowledged the first, which I only put in to highlight that your statement that This is not true at all was in fact, wrong.

You made an assertion that it's not true that if you opt out of Sunday working then you'll lose your job. I have given multiple examples where that is provably not the case.

CandleInTheStorm · 19/02/2023 11:19

Wouldn't the week just feel like one long continuous one though? There would be no such thing as Monday morning fresh new week anymore because every day would be the same.

Botw1 · 19/02/2023 11:20

@melj1213

Oh well.

Beggars can't be choosers.

If you need the work then you have to accept weekend work as part of the role

Botw1 · 19/02/2023 11:22

@CandleInTheStorm

Do you base figuring out your days on the fact some shops open a bit later on a Sunday?

That seems weird

It's not a thing here and we manage to distinguish the days of the week absolutely fine

Hesma · 19/02/2023 11:23

There are 6 other days a week you can shop extended hours…

Botw1 · 19/02/2023 11:23

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts

But it's OK for essential workers to 'never' see their families?

Tough shit for them eh?

Vloader23 · 19/02/2023 11:27

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 19/02/2023 11:06

@Vloader23 I worked in a supermarket for a good six years too and the same applied there as well.

Yes, in theory you could opt out of Sundays - but the reality was that anyone who did that in their first two years of service would just be "let go" anyway.

This is not true, certainly not in the way you state. As I said - most roles and rosters are for pre-agreed contractual shifts.

However, sure if you sign up for a rolling rostered role across X hours and Y days and become repeatedly difficult about working within those parameters you'll get let go. Rightly so if there's someone to take your place.

Again, the main point here is now that most of the country aren't practicing religions that require them to worship at a certain time and place on a Sunday so a Sunday should be no different to a Monday. Do you disagree with this?

Boomboom22 · 19/02/2023 11:28

melj1213 · 19/02/2023 11:14

Because everyone has the luxury to pick and choose the job based on whether there's weekend working involved 🙄

I work in retail not because it's my dream career but because, when I moved back from living abroad for over a decade with my small DD and needed money to pay the bills and keep the roof over our heads, retail was the first job I got that was flexible around childcare, allowed me a range of shifts through the day (so on days when DD was with her dad I could work earlier/later/longer but on days when she was with me I could only work shorter daytime shifts) but did require me to work weekends.

I could have turned it down but then we'd have been starving and homeless because, surprisingly enough, office jobs weren't falling over themselves to offer £30k 9.30am-3pm M-F positions to the point where I could pick and choose where I worked.

Show quote history

So you got to pick and choose your hours, making the opposite point to most on this thread that you can do so in some retail jobs.

Also I mention hospitality again, so restaurant and pub workers on mw are fine to work Sundays but not shop workers?

LlynTegid · 19/02/2023 11:31

@Maverickess I did not agree with all of the changes to Sunday trading laws when they were made in the 90s. I agreed with it being store size based, not what you could sell (you could buy a book but could buy a newspaper with page 3 or similar, for example, until the law changed).

I was not alone it not wanting widespread Sunday trading, indeed one of the few defeats Mrs Thatcher had as Prime Minister was to change them.