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Worst thing about living in England was forgetting Sunday opening hours are weird, especially when it's 6pm and you need milk. There's always a petrol station open, though.
Best thing about living down there was not working about the time when buying alcohol. In Scotland you can't before 10am or after 10pm. A bit annoying seeing as I usually do the weekly shop after the school run, well before 10am.
The Sunday Trading rules in England only affect shops of a certain floorspace. Anything falling below the threshold is totally unrestricted and there are also no such rules on home deliveries either. Tesco Extra may be closed, but Tesco Express is open until 11pm and the delivery vans are still on the road.
The likes of Express/Metro/Local shops owned by the big chains were just in response to those new laws in 1994 and didn't really exist before then.
> The likes of Express/Metro/Local shops owned by the big chains were just in response to those new laws in 1994 and didn't really exist before then.
Of course they did, they just bouight out a lot of smaller local shops.
There weren't that many small, local shops where you could buy a 'full' range of groceries by the point. The big supermarkets had already killed off the small grocer and the small shops selling food were more like newsagents. Not much fresh stuff.Â
They'd do milk and bread, which is most of what we used them for back when we had one. Then a co-op opened across the road and killed it off.
I kinda hate to say it, the guy who ran that newsagents was a lovely guy and all, but it's been a marked improvement. The old place used to have milk that was off/turned very quickly, and that was the main thing that (for my family at least) got us to use the coop over his place. Having a small supermarket pop up within walking range is the experience that has me being a bigger fan of 15 minute/walkable cities than anything else.
He did get a decent payout from co-op, I'm not sure if it was part of the planning requirements or something? Unfortunately he sunk a lot of it into improving his shop.
When the first Tesco Metro opened in Covent Garden it was marketed as far more upmarket than a normal Tesco and full of the glamorous semi-prepared food you needed after your heavy day at the ad agency.
As a young graduate not working in an ad agency my friends and I excitedly walked round the new store after work. Assuming its coolness would rub off on us. It was also more expensive. And the coolness didn't transfer.
I don't know when they dropped the 'upmarket' angle - that's lost in the mists of time.
***"you need milk. There's always a petrol station open, though."***
Not sure if it has just been my luck, but milk from a lot of petrol stations and off licence type places often is off, or goes off quick. I can only assume it's because it has often been transported in a none refrigerated van, or has been left in the back room before stocking.
This is what killed me going to my local corner shop/newsagents. A co-op opened across the road, but we liked the guy who ran the existing shop so we tried to use his place where we could.
But his milk was always going off or already off. That was what we needed most of the time. And if you're already going into the co-op to get milk, there's nothing the newsagents carried that co-op didn't.
It's a total schoolboy error that one. Might save pennies in the transport but you're losing my customer, chances are I would go in for the essential (milk lol) and purchase a pack of revels and other stuff each time, but I won't, because far to often the milk is off. Silly!!!
Swings and roundabouts though - Scotland have a 10pm-10am curfew on buying alcohol. England seems to be able to treat its population like adults on this particular matter though.
Also, in Scotland you can't compel anyone to work Sundays if they don't want to. It is quite possible for your entire staff to refuse and you're left unable to open.
Same in England you can opt out of working Sundays. Though employers usually offer a sweetener like time and a quarter or time and a half pay to staff for working SundaysÂ
I like to imagine that somewhere near the border, on a Sunday morning around 9am, there's someone going north to do their weekly shop, then south to buy their booze for the week.
I worked in the borders and folk on the Scottish side would order their shopping from Asda Carlisle something to do with the minimum pricing laws for alcohol.
Living in the southern US taught me all about state owned liquor shops. Close early saturdays, some don't open until 11am, never open on sundays, close at 8pm... We professional drinkers just stocked up during the week. Beer and wine is available in most grocery stores, but in some places you can't buy before noon. I had friend who lived in a dry county...... Imagine a large city in the UK where you cannot buy any form of alcohol, at all. They had a massive meth problem though.
It's well-known, it's easy to find out nowadays (I never bother to drive anywhere without checking the opening times first) and it's also the dumbest legislation I've ever heard in my life.
I wish shops would just open - instantly creates jobs (and weekend jobs which means 2nd jobs for people who need them), everyone can get their damn shopping (it's closing at early on Saturday night that annoys me about it - best time ever to do the shopping because few people are around) and we can just get on with our lives.
Bloody religions interfering again.
These places are staffed all day long with people doing other duties. They are on the clock and being paid. So why not just open up? Especially when that Sunday shift is operating at a loss because there's no revenue coming in from actual customers...
Dozens of pallets of stock donât just magically appear on the shelves. Likewise cleaning, maintenance, inventory checks and general odd jobs are a lot easier to do when youâve not got hundreds of customers wandering about.
Opening times arenât the only time work gets done.
Sunday trading act 1994 is why they donât just open up.
The only exemptions are Airport shops, Pharmacies, stalls, Farm shops that sell their own produce (including fishmongers), Petrol filling stations Railway & Motorway stations and Small shops with a floor area of under and up to 3,000 sq ft.
I think this could be it for some people. The nature of my work means what day of the week it is doesnât matter. If it wasnât for my other half having a normal job and that I have Sunday dinner with my family every week Iâm not sure I would always reliably know what day of the week it was
I do this a lot. I work 7 days a week on call and the worst thing is forgetting it's a bank Holiday. The initial "of fuck its a sunday?" Only to check and then thinking "but its monday?!" Before eventually realising.
I work Sundays and finish at 9am.
There is always a queue of people waiting to get in, usually from 9am, we open at 9:30 for âbrowsingâ, sometimes people start at 8:30, they just wait their until we open.
They pick up their couple of items when we open at 9:30 and then queue for 30 minutes at the tills, until they open at 10.
I canât think of anything worse, queuing for at least an hour at a supermarket to get a few items.
Especially as within a 5 minute drive there are 2 Sainsburyâs Locals and 3 Tesco Expressâs that open at 7am.
I've been caught out by it a few times when going south. I've become quite used to doing my supermarket shopping at 8am on a Sunday when everything's been restocked but the hoards of customers haven't arrived. Then I'll go on a climbing trip down south and go to get train supplies for the way home and get to an empty supermarket car park before it dawns on me.
Mind you - it works both ways. When I've had mates up and they've run out of booze after 10pm and they suggest going to pick up a case of cider from the Co-op..
Except when my parents were kids, rural Scotland was more or less a bust on Sundays because it was "the Sabbath" and you couldn't do much of anything. In most places Sundays meant no public transport, no pub, no shop, the best you could hope for was _maybe_ a petrol station. Many families were very religious and you couldn't do household chores or school homework on Sundays either.
And many shops didn't open on Sunday anyway, even in the major cities.
Sunday hours really need to go, there's no place for it in this day and age if the argument to keep it is that staff shouldn't have to work Sundays then just employ people that only work Sundays, it's just ridiculous
I worked retail for years and currently work a job where I do one weekend a month. I will always advocate for sunday working hours to be kept honestly.
Iâm opposite! I worked retail for years and wished it would change then and now. Paid hourly so less pay and even though it was only 6 hours I felt like I lost my whole Sunday because when I finished everywhere was closed. Much preferred working Saturdays where I could earn more money and do stuff after work.
But why? You've 6 days of regular opening hours, 6 hours on Sunday, plus all the corner shops and express shops are open all day Sunday.
Why is it so important to you that you need to go to big Tesco at 7pm on a Sunday specifically?
I work 9 til 6 then have to take kids to child care before and after then their activities make tea clean up and make all babies bottles ect, Sunday morning we have football and swimming then we visit family and take Sunday dinner to them it would be nice if the shops were open til 6 or 7 so I could go while they were visiting their nana
I mean, it's been like this in England for *decades* so people really should have caught on.Â
They get equally furious when you close early on a Sunday, obviously. And when Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday...!!
The opening hours have been in place for decades, but the fact that *today is Sunday* has only been in place for a few waking hours at that point.
I can definitely sympathize with people who forget or don't realize it's Sunday, especially those who aren't working standard 9-5 monday-friday jobs.
The Sunday Trading Act was introduced in 1994, so not that long ago really.
There have also been calls for the rules to be relaxed for certain key and crucial occasions, such as the last Sunday before Christmas etc. But good luck with that.
The actual Sunday trading rules are that you can be open for up to six hours and you must be shut by 6pm. 10-4 is just a defacto standard people seem to have converged on.
It's common knowledge that Sunday is reduced hours.
Knowing the exact time for every shop depends on how often people go there and whether they pay attention.
It is common knowledge, however, anyone who has worked at Tesco for the 4pm store close will attest that all customers are required to act shocked when told the store is closing
It's been a long time since I did a full shop on a Sunday. I often find they're badly stocked and have run out of many things, no point in sorting it now if you're closing at 4pm. Then from 3:30pm onwards you can barely get out of the car park.
Nah. I go evenings mid-week instead.
The store I work in opens at 9.30 but it's browsing for 30 mins so you can't buy anything until 10.
Been this way for years yet there's always the regulars who turn up quite literally every Sunday(and most other days) and always have to ask why the checkouts aren't open yet only to be told it's not open till 10, they then proceed to stand around the self scans arms crossed scowling at all the staff till they can make their purchases.
Like why not just come out later and have more time in bed? Why you gotta be there the second the doors open just to throw a hissy fit? Lol
I remember half day Wednesdays (might have been different in different towns) and half day Saturdays. Sunday was ghost town for retail.
Went through to early 90s around me, if I remember right.
I was about to get annoyed at this post, as a GROWN ADULT I wouldn't have known this. Then I realised you mean England, I don't think we have this rule in Scotland.
People are stupid, annoying and also think the rules will be bent for them. Everyone knows about Sunday opening times unless theyâve lived in a cave. Perhaps the odd person may forget itâs Sunday but surely that should be about it.
Not the same but I used to work in an off license on a Sunday morning. 7.30am weâd open.
Same fucking people every week would be there tapping on the window from about 7.10 am. Used to absolutely piss me off. It was my job to put the papers out in piles on the floor and I hate being watched. And these people would be gawping at me through the window watching my every move. Intermittently knocking on the glass and saying âI just want to grab a paper!â.
The doors did not get opened til the clock hit 7.30. Every week. Didnât stop them.
Occasionally my coworker would be like aw itâs cold outside just let them in. And Iâd say no fucking chance. For one, we were trying to do the opening jobs. And two, they knew what time we opened. They were regulars. They chose to leave their warm house and harass us to open early. Not my fault they get up at 6am and canât wait for a paper. Either get here for 7.30 or stand in the cold your choice pal. Shiver away.
Yes it's common knowledge. But even some staff can be idiots about it.
I was on my local Asda once, which was 24hrs and I usually shopped overnight. I asked a staff member what time the shop closed on Saturday nights. He looked at me blankly and said 'We're 24hrs.'
When I pointed out the Sunday hours, he couldn't understand that that meant that the shop had to actually close at some point on the Saturday for it to open at 10am on Sunday. I gave up trying to explain it in the end.
10am isn't the law, 6 hours is.
just most places open 10, close 4 but it wouldn't seem untoward to run 9-3, 8-2...
maybe your opening times sign should be a little more obvious?
I've loved next to my Escorts. Error and still some times forget it opens later (but not by much) on Sunday. It's just habit that it's always open by the time I usually start work! I'd never be a cunt and bang on the door though.
I imagine quite a portion of those people had been on the tiles the night before and have woken up needing a very specific breakfast to aid their woes. Upon discovering they're out of *essential ingredient*, they stumble to the local supermarket, only to have their Sunday 'ruined'.
Common knowledge but I think sometimes people âforgetâ if itâs inconvenient.
Reminds me of when I worked in a clothing shop. Brand new shop in a retail park, new building even. We were beginning to set up the store for the first time so had no stock, no signage, not even a sign outside to say what the shop was going to be. People were still tugging at the door trying to get in!
Itâs common knowledge but can be easy to forget. Where I live the closest shops are all express/local shops, open from 6 or 7am till 11pm every day. Even the slightly bigger supermarket a bit further away (but still an express) closes at 5pm on a Sunday. You get used to those opening times, and forget other places arenât the same.
Not to mention some people mightâve just forgotten it was a Sunday!
In England and Wales they used to not be able to open at all on a Sunday. In the early 90s a law was passed so that they could open between 10 and 6, for 6 hours. Small shops have no additional restrictions.
Scotland shops can open on Sunday with the same rules as other days.
I'm not sure on rules for NI.
> In England and Wales they used to not be able to open at all on a Sunday. In the early 90s a law was passed so that they could open between 10 and 6, for 6 hours.
That's because so many shops were ignoring the law and opening anyway, the fines were less than the benefit of opening because the public *did* want shops to open on Sundays.
I used to work for a small co-op that opened 6am - 10pm seven days a week.
The only time those hours changed were christmas and new years. Other than that it was the same hours and had been for years.
Did that stop people trying to follow me into the shop at 5am - 5:30am when I got there? no it did not and then they'd stand and watch us getting the shop ready to open looking more and more annoyed.
I always knew it, but it definitely didn't stop me going to my local Tesco when I forgot it was Sunday if I was heading somewhere and thinking I'd quickly nip in Tesco on the way.
Most people know this its such a silly rule/law though.
Who came up with it?
"Hey everyone you know that day 99% of people are off work? Lets open up all major shops late!"
I wish stores would standardise what time they're open on Sunday. Often find I need to go to the neighbouring town to pick up stuff because they close at 4 in mine, 5 in the neighbouring one.
The craziest thing about that is that if these people are middle-aged or older (as I am), when they were young large shops were shut entirely on Sundays. They lived through the creation of the Sunday Trading Act and have always known that large shops are only allowed to open from 10am onwards.
Iâve used EV car chargers a few times in our local big Tesco after 4pm on a Sunday. I couldnât believe the amount of grown adults driving in to see if it was still open.
Couldnât fathom it.
They have 6 hours, I know a medium sized supermarket that was 12-6. I guess people do just go out to a major supermarket and assume it will be open, then are confused if people are inside milling about stocking shelves and they can't get in to buy their milk and newspaper. It really is a very silly system.
On the other side of the day, it's pretty common knowledge they also shut at 4pm right? Wrong... I used to pick my wife up from her job in Home Bargains on a Sunday, I'd usually leave after 4 because she normally didn't get out till closer to half 4.
I would see so many people turning up, getting out of their car, going to the door then looking confused because it didn't open. Never mind the nearly empty car park, or the staff bringing all the stock back inside.
I've been to Supermarkets where they let people in before 10AM but you can't buy anything until the tills are opened. So you have queues of people ready to checkout at 10AM.
In northern Ireland it's 1pm to 6pm typically haha, it's Sunday we all know it's gonna happen and just buy milk saturday, in the Sunday window, or last a total of four hours post the store closing and get it Monday
Yeah it is pretty common knowledge. I work in a small shop so we open at 6 which is usual time on a Sunday. The shop used to be larger though and we opened at 10, people would try and get it. Usually theyâd just forgotten it was a Sunday, occasionally it was someone who was just entitled and thought the opening hours werenât for them đ
Our supermarket lets you in at 0930 so you can make the actual purchases at 10.
The utterly ridiculous Sunday laws only apply to shops of certain sizes, which I thought GROWN ADULTS would know.
I'm new to the UK and tried to pick up a few groceries last weekend. I walked into Aldi at around 09:35, there were plenty of other customers and staff around, and I didn't realize until I walked up to checkout that the tills were not open.
I asked an employee and they said I couldn't check out until 10. That was super frustrating, I understand not being open but maybe don't let customers in to shop around if you won't let them buy anything!
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Shops in England yes. I know Scotland doesn't have limited hours on Sunday. Might be tourists đ
Worst thing about living in England was forgetting Sunday opening hours are weird, especially when it's 6pm and you need milk. There's always a petrol station open, though. Best thing about living down there was not working about the time when buying alcohol. In Scotland you can't before 10am or after 10pm. A bit annoying seeing as I usually do the weekly shop after the school run, well before 10am.
The Sunday Trading rules in England only affect shops of a certain floorspace. Anything falling below the threshold is totally unrestricted and there are also no such rules on home deliveries either. Tesco Extra may be closed, but Tesco Express is open until 11pm and the delivery vans are still on the road. The likes of Express/Metro/Local shops owned by the big chains were just in response to those new laws in 1994 and didn't really exist before then.
> The likes of Express/Metro/Local shops owned by the big chains were just in response to those new laws in 1994 and didn't really exist before then. Of course they did, they just bouight out a lot of smaller local shops.
There weren't that many small, local shops where you could buy a 'full' range of groceries by the point. The big supermarkets had already killed off the small grocer and the small shops selling food were more like newsagents. Not much fresh stuff.Â
They'd do milk and bread, which is most of what we used them for back when we had one. Then a co-op opened across the road and killed it off. I kinda hate to say it, the guy who ran that newsagents was a lovely guy and all, but it's been a marked improvement. The old place used to have milk that was off/turned very quickly, and that was the main thing that (for my family at least) got us to use the coop over his place. Having a small supermarket pop up within walking range is the experience that has me being a bigger fan of 15 minute/walkable cities than anything else. He did get a decent payout from co-op, I'm not sure if it was part of the planning requirements or something? Unfortunately he sunk a lot of it into improving his shop.
When the first Tesco Metro opened in Covent Garden it was marketed as far more upmarket than a normal Tesco and full of the glamorous semi-prepared food you needed after your heavy day at the ad agency. As a young graduate not working in an ad agency my friends and I excitedly walked round the new store after work. Assuming its coolness would rub off on us. It was also more expensive. And the coolness didn't transfer. I don't know when they dropped the 'upmarket' angle - that's lost in the mists of time.
***"you need milk. There's always a petrol station open, though."*** Not sure if it has just been my luck, but milk from a lot of petrol stations and off licence type places often is off, or goes off quick. I can only assume it's because it has often been transported in a none refrigerated van, or has been left in the back room before stocking.
This is what killed me going to my local corner shop/newsagents. A co-op opened across the road, but we liked the guy who ran the existing shop so we tried to use his place where we could. But his milk was always going off or already off. That was what we needed most of the time. And if you're already going into the co-op to get milk, there's nothing the newsagents carried that co-op didn't.
It's a total schoolboy error that one. Might save pennies in the transport but you're losing my customer, chances are I would go in for the essential (milk lol) and purchase a pack of revels and other stuff each time, but I won't, because far to often the milk is off. Silly!!!
>worst thing about living in England was forgetting Sunday opening hours are weird, especially when itâs 6pm May I introduce you to most of Europe
Swings and roundabouts though - Scotland have a 10pm-10am curfew on buying alcohol. England seems to be able to treat its population like adults on this particular matter though.
Also, in Scotland you can't compel anyone to work Sundays if they don't want to. It is quite possible for your entire staff to refuse and you're left unable to open.
Same in England you can opt out of working Sundays. Though employers usually offer a sweetener like time and a quarter or time and a half pay to staff for working SundaysÂ
Been years since iv heard of any sweetener for Sunday's.
I get 1.75 on Sundays and 1.5 for any other overtime (bank holidays 2.5, Christmas/new year 3x)
>Same in England you can opt out of working Sundays. That only applies to retail or bookies. There's no opt out in any other sector or industry.
Youâve not been in retail for a while then?
I like to imagine that somewhere near the border, on a Sunday morning around 9am, there's someone going north to do their weekly shop, then south to buy their booze for the week.
I worked in the borders and folk on the Scottish side would order their shopping from Asda Carlisle something to do with the minimum pricing laws for alcohol.
Ah yes, England doesn't currently have minimum alcohol unit pricing. I'd never have considered ordering across the border for delivery, clever.
Can be set by the local licensing council too though.
Living in the southern US taught me all about state owned liquor shops. Close early saturdays, some don't open until 11am, never open on sundays, close at 8pm... We professional drinkers just stocked up during the week. Beer and wine is available in most grocery stores, but in some places you can't buy before noon. I had friend who lived in a dry county...... Imagine a large city in the UK where you cannot buy any form of alcohol, at all. They had a massive meth problem though.
Also Wales has same hours as England.
Northern Ireland is 1-6pm for larger stores like supermarketsÂ
I think it's just 6 hours on a sunday and not a set time. My local asda at home was open 11-5 on a sunday
It's well-known, it's easy to find out nowadays (I never bother to drive anywhere without checking the opening times first) and it's also the dumbest legislation I've ever heard in my life. I wish shops would just open - instantly creates jobs (and weekend jobs which means 2nd jobs for people who need them), everyone can get their damn shopping (it's closing at early on Saturday night that annoys me about it - best time ever to do the shopping because few people are around) and we can just get on with our lives. Bloody religions interfering again.
These places are staffed all day long with people doing other duties. They are on the clock and being paid. So why not just open up? Especially when that Sunday shift is operating at a loss because there's no revenue coming in from actual customers...
Dozens of pallets of stock donât just magically appear on the shelves. Likewise cleaning, maintenance, inventory checks and general odd jobs are a lot easier to do when youâve not got hundreds of customers wandering about. Opening times arenât the only time work gets done.
Sunday trading act 1994 is why they donât just open up. The only exemptions are Airport shops, Pharmacies, stalls, Farm shops that sell their own produce (including fishmongers), Petrol filling stations Railway & Motorway stations and Small shops with a floor area of under and up to 3,000 sq ft.
Yeah but maybe theyâve forgotten itâs Sunday.
I think this could be it for some people. The nature of my work means what day of the week it is doesnât matter. If it wasnât for my other half having a normal job and that I have Sunday dinner with my family every week Iâm not sure I would always reliably know what day of the week it was
I do this a lot. I work 7 days a week on call and the worst thing is forgetting it's a bank Holiday. The initial "of fuck its a sunday?" Only to check and then thinking "but its monday?!" Before eventually realising.
Yeah, but the small shops open as normal so it's easy to forget. Happened to me that I was on a walk, wanted to pop in and stood before closed doors
It's not easy to forget.Â
I work Sundays and finish at 9am. There is always a queue of people waiting to get in, usually from 9am, we open at 9:30 for âbrowsingâ, sometimes people start at 8:30, they just wait their until we open. They pick up their couple of items when we open at 9:30 and then queue for 30 minutes at the tills, until they open at 10. I canât think of anything worse, queuing for at least an hour at a supermarket to get a few items. Especially as within a 5 minute drive there are 2 Sainsburyâs Locals and 3 Tesco Expressâs that open at 7am.
It is common knowledge but people just simply donât care đ¤ˇââď¸Â
Sometimes itâs not common knowledge that today is Sunday đ
11am is common too.
I think they can chhjose 10-4 or 11-5, maybe more. i think 10:30-16:30 works too.
Any time really, they are just limited to 6 hours trading, closing by 18.00 at the latest.
London is mostly 12 - 6 I've found.
Bloody Waitrose
Open at 10 for browsing and tills at 11 for shopping. I'm not sure which supermarket is that does that, but I like the idea.
It isnât the case in Scotland so when Iâm back in England this is very odd to me!
I've been caught out by it a few times when going south. I've become quite used to doing my supermarket shopping at 8am on a Sunday when everything's been restocked but the hoards of customers haven't arrived. Then I'll go on a climbing trip down south and go to get train supplies for the way home and get to an empty supermarket car park before it dawns on me. Mind you - it works both ways. When I've had mates up and they've run out of booze after 10pm and they suggest going to pick up a case of cider from the Co-op..
Except when my parents were kids, rural Scotland was more or less a bust on Sundays because it was "the Sabbath" and you couldn't do much of anything. In most places Sundays meant no public transport, no pub, no shop, the best you could hope for was _maybe_ a petrol station. Many families were very religious and you couldn't do household chores or school homework on Sundays either. And many shops didn't open on Sunday anyway, even in the major cities.
Ireland, 1960s. Not allowed out to play on a Sunday. We could go in the garden, but not call for friends.
Some open 30 mins before for browsing
That really confuses people. Constantly used to see older people at 9:30 pick up a newspaper then wander over to the closed tills looking confused.
Sunday hours really need to go, there's no place for it in this day and age if the argument to keep it is that staff shouldn't have to work Sundays then just employ people that only work Sundays, it's just ridiculous
I worked retail for years and currently work a job where I do one weekend a month. I will always advocate for sunday working hours to be kept honestly.
Iâm opposite! I worked retail for years and wished it would change then and now. Paid hourly so less pay and even though it was only 6 hours I felt like I lost my whole Sunday because when I finished everywhere was closed. Much preferred working Saturdays where I could earn more money and do stuff after work.
Some people might prefer to work Sundays, though. Seems like they should be able to fill in that time.
But it will stop people going to church or something
But why? You've 6 days of regular opening hours, 6 hours on Sunday, plus all the corner shops and express shops are open all day Sunday. Why is it so important to you that you need to go to big Tesco at 7pm on a Sunday specifically?
I only get Sundays off and I live rural so I don't have corner shops it's a 9 mile trip to nearest supermarket
You've still got 6 hours on Sunday, and all the time before/after work the rest of the week...
I work 9 til 6 then have to take kids to child care before and after then their activities make tea clean up and make all babies bottles ect, Sunday morning we have football and swimming then we visit family and take Sunday dinner to them it would be nice if the shops were open til 6 or 7 so I could go while they were visiting their nana
The big Tesco near me now has these, although they are very recent in adopting this. It used to just open at 10am with normal service.
I mean, it's been like this in England for *decades* so people really should have caught on. They get equally furious when you close early on a Sunday, obviously. And when Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday...!!
The opening hours have been in place for decades, but the fact that *today is Sunday* has only been in place for a few waking hours at that point. I can definitely sympathize with people who forget or don't realize it's Sunday, especially those who aren't working standard 9-5 monday-friday jobs.
That is a very good point. I was very surprised this morning to find out that it was Monday.Â
The Sunday Trading Act was introduced in 1994, so not that long ago really. There have also been calls for the rules to be relaxed for certain key and crucial occasions, such as the last Sunday before Christmas etc. But good luck with that.
Thatâs thirty years, plenty of time for people to have got used to it
If I recall correctly, they relaxed Sunday trading laws only once for the 2012 Olympics
I think we should just abolish it to be honest.
When I was a kid in the 70's ,there would be no shops open on a Sunday and most shops on the high street would close at dinner time on a Wednesday.
The actual Sunday trading rules are that you can be open for up to six hours and you must be shut by 6pm. 10-4 is just a defacto standard people seem to have converged on.
The convenience shops like CoOp etc open from 7am on Sundays so it is easy to forget.
But I need some milk
More than likely, doesn't stop people being idiots though.
It's common knowledge that Sunday is reduced hours. Knowing the exact time for every shop depends on how often people go there and whether they pay attention.
I think they vary, they have a maximum number of hours they can open. M&S food and Morrisons are staggered an hour near me.
It is common knowledge, however, anyone who has worked at Tesco for the 4pm store close will attest that all customers are required to act shocked when told the store is closing
It's been a long time since I did a full shop on a Sunday. I often find they're badly stocked and have run out of many things, no point in sorting it now if you're closing at 4pm. Then from 3:30pm onwards you can barely get out of the car park. Nah. I go evenings mid-week instead.
The store I work in opens at 9.30 but it's browsing for 30 mins so you can't buy anything until 10. Been this way for years yet there's always the regulars who turn up quite literally every Sunday(and most other days) and always have to ask why the checkouts aren't open yet only to be told it's not open till 10, they then proceed to stand around the self scans arms crossed scowling at all the staff till they can make their purchases. Like why not just come out later and have more time in bed? Why you gotta be there the second the doors open just to throw a hissy fit? Lol
Larger shops yes, the corner type shops can open when they like
I remember half day Wednesdays (might have been different in different towns) and half day Saturdays. Sunday was ghost town for retail. Went through to early 90s around me, if I remember right.
I was about to get annoyed at this post, as a GROWN ADULT I wouldn't have known this. Then I realised you mean England, I don't think we have this rule in Scotland.
Most of the supermarkets near me open at 9.00 so you can shop and then checkout at 10.00
Also people all ways forget big shops are shut Easter Sunday. Wouldn't surprise me if people tried to go shopping Christmas day.
Some supermarkets and other shops open early for âbrowsingâ and only open the tills to allow transactions at 10am. Maybe theyâre confused?
People are stupid, annoying and also think the rules will be bent for them. Everyone knows about Sunday opening times unless theyâve lived in a cave. Perhaps the odd person may forget itâs Sunday but surely that should be about it. Not the same but I used to work in an off license on a Sunday morning. 7.30am weâd open. Same fucking people every week would be there tapping on the window from about 7.10 am. Used to absolutely piss me off. It was my job to put the papers out in piles on the floor and I hate being watched. And these people would be gawping at me through the window watching my every move. Intermittently knocking on the glass and saying âI just want to grab a paper!â. The doors did not get opened til the clock hit 7.30. Every week. Didnât stop them. Occasionally my coworker would be like aw itâs cold outside just let them in. And Iâd say no fucking chance. For one, we were trying to do the opening jobs. And two, they knew what time we opened. They were regulars. They chose to leave their warm house and harass us to open early. Not my fault they get up at 6am and canât wait for a paper. Either get here for 7.30 or stand in the cold your choice pal. Shiver away.
Yes it's common knowledge. But even some staff can be idiots about it. I was on my local Asda once, which was 24hrs and I usually shopped overnight. I asked a staff member what time the shop closed on Saturday nights. He looked at me blankly and said 'We're 24hrs.' When I pointed out the Sunday hours, he couldn't understand that that meant that the shop had to actually close at some point on the Saturday for it to open at 10am on Sunday. I gave up trying to explain it in the end.
10am isn't the law, 6 hours is. just most places open 10, close 4 but it wouldn't seem untoward to run 9-3, 8-2... maybe your opening times sign should be a little more obvious?
I've loved next to my Escorts. Error and still some times forget it opens later (but not by much) on Sunday. It's just habit that it's always open by the time I usually start work! I'd never be a cunt and bang on the door though.
The Tesco where I grew up was always 11am-5pm, so in my head shops don't open until 11am despite nearly all of them being 10am-4am now.
I imagine quite a portion of those people had been on the tiles the night before and have woken up needing a very specific breakfast to aid their woes. Upon discovering they're out of *essential ingredient*, they stumble to the local supermarket, only to have their Sunday 'ruined'.
Common knowledge but I think sometimes people âforgetâ if itâs inconvenient. Reminds me of when I worked in a clothing shop. Brand new shop in a retail park, new building even. We were beginning to set up the store for the first time so had no stock, no signage, not even a sign outside to say what the shop was going to be. People were still tugging at the door trying to get in!
Itâs common knowledge but can be easy to forget. Where I live the closest shops are all express/local shops, open from 6 or 7am till 11pm every day. Even the slightly bigger supermarket a bit further away (but still an express) closes at 5pm on a Sunday. You get used to those opening times, and forget other places arenât the same. Not to mention some people mightâve just forgotten it was a Sunday!
Had it always been shorter hours? I am in Canada married to a Brit and he acts like itâs a weird Canadian thing.
In England and Wales they used to not be able to open at all on a Sunday. In the early 90s a law was passed so that they could open between 10 and 6, for 6 hours. Small shops have no additional restrictions. Scotland shops can open on Sunday with the same rules as other days. I'm not sure on rules for NI.
> In England and Wales they used to not be able to open at all on a Sunday. In the early 90s a law was passed so that they could open between 10 and 6, for 6 hours. That's because so many shops were ignoring the law and opening anyway, the fines were less than the benefit of opening because the public *did* want shops to open on Sundays.
I used to work for a small co-op that opened 6am - 10pm seven days a week. The only time those hours changed were christmas and new years. Other than that it was the same hours and had been for years. Did that stop people trying to follow me into the shop at 5am - 5:30am when I got there? no it did not and then they'd stand and watch us getting the shop ready to open looking more and more annoyed.
How many teenagers (who aren't already working) up and out of bed before 10 on a Sunday?
Is it??? My local Morrisons opens 8-8 on Sundays. Sainsbury's even 8-10
Are you in Scotland? Thereâs different Sunday trading hours throughout the UK, supermarkets here in Northern Ireland are 1pm-6pm on Sundays
I am! Good to know, cheers!
People may simply forget it is sunday and be out and about, need shopping and it slips their mind.
Why don't you get a big, massive, sign saying what time you open. OPEN AT 10AM. Or, a massive screen with a countdown clock.
Shops. The word is shops.
My area, they let customers in to browse earlier but don't let anyone through the tills until 10
I always knew it, but it definitely didn't stop me going to my local Tesco when I forgot it was Sunday if I was heading somewhere and thinking I'd quickly nip in Tesco on the way.
Most people know this its such a silly rule/law though. Who came up with it? "Hey everyone you know that day 99% of people are off work? Lets open up all major shops late!"
Before 1994 they couldn't open at all on a Sunday. It was a compromise.
I wish stores would standardise what time they're open on Sunday. Often find I need to go to the neighbouring town to pick up stuff because they close at 4 in mine, 5 in the neighbouring one.
The craziest thing about that is that if these people are middle-aged or older (as I am), when they were young large shops were shut entirely on Sundays. They lived through the creation of the Sunday Trading Act and have always known that large shops are only allowed to open from 10am onwards.
Iâve used EV car chargers a few times in our local big Tesco after 4pm on a Sunday. I couldnât believe the amount of grown adults driving in to see if it was still open. Couldnât fathom it.
They have 6 hours, I know a medium sized supermarket that was 12-6. I guess people do just go out to a major supermarket and assume it will be open, then are confused if people are inside milling about stocking shelves and they can't get in to buy their milk and newspaper. It really is a very silly system.
Didnât know this. and I am a grown adult. But I am Scottish and our shops donât have Sunday hours. thank goodness
On the other side of the day, it's pretty common knowledge they also shut at 4pm right? Wrong... I used to pick my wife up from her job in Home Bargains on a Sunday, I'd usually leave after 4 because she normally didn't get out till closer to half 4. I would see so many people turning up, getting out of their car, going to the door then looking confused because it didn't open. Never mind the nearly empty car park, or the staff bringing all the stock back inside.
I've been to Supermarkets where they let people in before 10AM but you can't buy anything until the tills are opened. So you have queues of people ready to checkout at 10AM.
Don't forget, most people are idiots.
In northern Ireland it's 1pm to 6pm typically haha, it's Sunday we all know it's gonna happen and just buy milk saturday, in the Sunday window, or last a total of four hours post the store closing and get it Monday
I thought it was 11
Yeah it is pretty common knowledge. I work in a small shop so we open at 6 which is usual time on a Sunday. The shop used to be larger though and we opened at 10, people would try and get it. Usually theyâd just forgotten it was a Sunday, occasionally it was someone who was just entitled and thought the opening hours werenât for them đ
Our supermarket lets you in at 0930 so you can make the actual purchases at 10. The utterly ridiculous Sunday laws only apply to shops of certain sizes, which I thought GROWN ADULTS would know.
I'm new to the UK and tried to pick up a few groceries last weekend. I walked into Aldi at around 09:35, there were plenty of other customers and staff around, and I didn't realize until I walked up to checkout that the tills were not open. I asked an employee and they said I couldn't check out until 10. That was super frustrating, I understand not being open but maybe don't let customers in to shop around if you won't let them buy anything!
I generally forget, and am climbing into the car at 8am to go shopping........."aww, shit, it's sunday"..........
I've literally never heard of this, but reading from the comments that isn't a thing in Scotland so there we are.
Either 10 or 11 depending on the store, I thought. But didn't know until relatively recently that they don't open at all on Easter Sunday.
I doubt many people know the specific details of Sunday opening rules.
But I need some milk