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

[CurdinHenry]

And just have a more normal week

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

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?

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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

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

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??

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!

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!!!

Emergency workers I know don't work every single weekend though.

Yep. The Tesco in Stornoway only started opening on Sundays in 2024. And there was a lot of opposition to it.

I considered training to be a nurse, but didn’t like that the shifts typically were not on set days per week, and would involve weekend work when I had children. So I chose a different career path, one that suited my needs.

If you don’t want to work weekends, don’t enter into a job that involves weekend work.

I’m saying this as someone who has worked weekends in offices, retail, hospitality and events management. Opening more days and hours allows more jobs, more shifts to become available, thus benefitting employers and potential employees.

But they would get an extra day off during the week instead. I used to work in a call centre and loved working Sundays because it meant I had a day off during the week to do stuff.

If you insist that supermarkets are open 'proper' hours on a Sunday why doesn't it apply to offices? Why can I only phone the DWP Monday to Friday during limited hours? Why do banks (where there are branches) open later 'for staff training' once a week and aren't open in the evenings or on Sundays? Why is the vet closed at the weekend except for emergencies? Why is the local police station only manned a few days every month? Oh and what about politicians and councillors - definitely office hours Monday to Friday.......

Personally I’d like to see everything shut on Sunday. I feel for retail staff who rarely get a weekend off.

@RebelMoon - went there in the mid 90s - our hotel didn't serve food at all on Sunday! They did warn us and we bought pot noodles and sandwiches the day before. No restaurants open, no shops or cafés. No ferry. And the people we were visiting said nobody was allowed to mow their lawns either as Sunday was the day of rest. Found it bonkers but very peaceful compared to Glasgow where we lived at the time.

We tried it too and it ended up costing us money. Trust me, if there was any money in it, places would be open.

Why would it make shopping more expensive and make workers do more hours? Surely they’d employ extra staff ( people who juggle childcare Mon-Fri might appreciate the option for Sunday hours)

Is this just an English bashing post?
Since you live in Scotland and wouldn’t move here because ships are only open for 6 hrs on a Sunday - well, it’s none of your business really is it.
Wether you like it or not we are STILL a Christian country,
I would be annoyed if Sunday became like every other day. It would stop the joy of Sunday lunches in and out, families meeting up etc. The slowness of Sundays is what makes it special.
If you can’t get organised in order to do your Sunday shopping in a 6 hr window on the times you come to England then it’s your issue to sort. Not ours.

@SleepingisanArt it has relaxed somewhat since the 90s but there are still folk who won't put their washing out on Sundays. Bonkers but quite charming.

Who serves you your Sunday lunch out?

Does the hospitality staff having to work a Sunday to serve you, not deserve time off? Only the person scanning your bread deserves the time off, but not the person serving you it?

Disagree. In Spain, hardly any shops open in Sunday ... it's a family non-working day and zi think it's fabulous.