The Sunday Trading Act 1994 is national legislation and applicable across the whole of the UK.
If the area of your shop, which is accessible to the public, is larger than 280 square metres then the Sunday Trading Act applies to your shop.
You can only open on a Sunday for a maximum of 6 hours within 10am and 6pm. The permitted opening times are:
- 10am to 4pm
- 11am to 5pm or
- 12pm to 6pm.
You must also:
- display a notice inside and outside of your business with your Sunday opening times
- close all day on Easter Sunday and Christmas Day (on any weekday or weekend)
- not take deliveries before 9am on a Sunday and not on Easter Sunday and Christmas Day.
You cannot temporarily block off areas of your shop to the public to reduce your sales area to open longer on a Sunday.
You can be prosecuted for opening outside of these times or on the specified days.
Retail sale of alcohol off the premises licence holders
The Sunday trading times still apply, even if you hold a licence for the retail sale of alcohol off the premises and the licensing times granted are for longer than 10am to 6pm. To avoid confusion, please contact licensing@slough.gov.uk if you would like to put in a minor variation to bring your Sunday hours in line with the permissible hours of the Sunday Trading Act.
Exemptions
The Sunday Trading Act 1994 does not apply to the following business types, and is their main purpose:
- the sale of alcohol
- motor and cycle supplies
- registered pharmacies
- petrol filling stations
- shops at railway stations.
This is not the full definitive list. Only those which apply to the Slough area have been listed.