Christmas can be a very stressful time of year. With all the festive shopping and turkey cooking, there isn’t always time to just sit back and relax.
Luckily, the season includes Boxing Day, a much-needed day to chill and with New Year’s day on the horizon, there’s more time off to come.
Sometimes Christmas and/or Boxing Day fall on a weekend – if this happens the 27th, and in the case of both days falling on a weekend, the 28th will become bank holidays.
This way, people don’t receive less time off work some years than others (unless you work on weekends and public holidays and your employer doesn’t offer them in lieu).
It also means you sometimes have three days off in a row to recover from Christmas Day.
No, Friday, December 27, is not a Bank Holiday as Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall on a Wednesday and Thursday.
The last time we had an additional bank holiday was 2022, as Christmas Day was on a Sunday and in 2021 we enjoyed two extra holidays in light of both Christmas Day and Boxing Day falling on the weekend.
New Year’s Day next year falls on a Wednesday, so there will be no extra bank holiday then either.
Here’s when you can look forward to a break over the coming year…
As is the case with most bank holidays, most shops will be open on December 27 but may operate at reduced hours.
Supermarkets, for example, may open later than usual – around 9am in some cases – and might also close a little earlier than they normally do.
Others, such as shopping centres, may operate their regular opening hours as people head out to bag a bargain in the sales.
Opening and closing times will also vary depending on where you happen to be in the country.
If you’re planning on hitting the shops on December 27, you should use the store locator tool on the website of your shop of choice, to confirm what time your local branch opens its doors.
For those visiting a shopping centre, you should also check their website to see what time they will be open.
A version of this article was first published December 27, 2023.
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