Sunday opening hours

screwedagain

Hi all,

What are everyones' thoughts on the current opening hours for large shops etc. in NI on Sundays?

Having to wait until the day is half over before you can get to a supermarket to get the groceries is a bit of a pain. I've always thought we should be brought more in line with England where the shops can choose up to 6 consecutive hours between 10am and 4pm (or something like that). Everyone we know that lives or has lived in England is aghast at the current arrangement over here. Yet another meaningless demonstration of Northern Ireland refusing to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century.

The way things are currently means that there is a Sunday 'rush hour' (certainly in Belfast at least), clogging up the roads and making it difficult to get anywhere. Go to any sizeable supermarket at 12:45pm and you'll find scores of people queuing outside waiting for the doors to open. Those supermarkets that are kind enough to allow 30 minutes browsing time before opening the tills just move their 1pm queue to the tills rather than have it at the front door. Surely this alone shows that the demand, and need, is there for places to be open earlier.

Heaven forbid if you have anything planned for a Sunday and need to get groceries in the morning. I know that smaller corner shops and filling stations etc. are obviously exempt from the restricted hours, but these are often not practical, or affordable for everyday purchases.

Any thoughts?

dmxdave

Yep http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11876791

tara747

I agree totally, OP! Hope Attwood can do something soon, the Sunday opening hours here are ridiculous.

SnowyOwl_2

I lived in London for years and years and really miss the Sunday opening hours over there. It was great to get your shopping done by 11.00am and still have most of the day for leisure (or praying, if that's your bag, lol). People who worked on Sundays appreciated the early finish and having a longish evening.

The placement of off licences as cordoned off areas within supermarkets is also a bit irritating, and I really don't understand the logic or sense of having some tills through which you can purchase alcohol and others through which you can't. I don't understand how these rules could possibly achieve anything.

lazer

I think we should leave them the way they are.

You have 6 days a week to shop, from 9am to 6pm, or 9pm on a few days, do you really need more than 5 hours on a sunday?

The flexible sunday 6 hour opening is not going to work in places like Belfast t move the rush hour, Castlecourt and Victoria square will decide what hours they are opening, and the rest of the city centre will follow their lead.

I think its goods for everyone, especially the shop staff, that we still have restricted sunday opening.

As for people queuing at the supermarkets at 1pm, how often do you really see that, personally i've never seen it!
Everyone knows what the shopping hours so plan around it, the shops are open enough the rest of the week

The only time the 24hour Supermarkets close is on a Sunday!

darwin-rover

lazer wrote: »

I think we should leave them the way they are.

You have 6 days a week to shop, from 9am to 6pm, or 9pm on a few days, do you really need more than 5 hours on a sunday?

The flexible sunday 6 hour opening is not going to work in places like Belfast t move the rush hour, Castlecourt and Victoria square will decide what hours they are opening, and the rest of the city centre will follow their lead.

I think its goods for everyone, especially the shop staff, that we still have restricted sunday opening.

As for people queuing at the supermarkets at 1pm, how often do you really see that, personally i've never seen it!
Everyone knows what the shopping hours so plan around it, the shops are open enough the rest of the week

The only time the 24hour Supermarkets close is on a Sunday!

Totally agree.
I can remember the days when the big shops werent allowed to open on Sun and most shops only opened late on a Thurs , and there were no 24hour supermarkets and we all managed then.

Old_Git

I remember when the shops closed for a day during the week as well .I think Belfast used to be Wednesday . I dont think people really want an earlier time for shopping on a Sunday .They want a chance to lie in and get an extra few hours sleep.

moonpie

6 days of shopping and some supermarkets 24 hour and people still complain. Unbelievable! We don't know when we're well off, we always want more.

Pretani

Its only a matter of time until they open all day Sunday. I was dying with a chest flu a few months back, went to the doctor on call as I needed a prescription for antibiotics, had to wait 4 hours until the chemist opened in Sainsburys. Thanks not a Christian ethos.

Here in N.Ireland we live with a bunch of Pharisees as Christian leaders, they pick through the bible and pick out bits of scripture that suits their agenda and ignore others that doesn't. The disciples picked ears of corn on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23) (Matt 12:1) and the pharisees scorned them, just the Pharisee Christian leaders we have today.

Open the supermarkets and let everyone do as they will. If your hungry in a Sunday morning and have no food, is it Christian to make your brother hunger because of some Jewish law? If you're not a Jew, why hold onto Jewish laws?

drew2k9

that was so disrepectful.

you could have waited no problem, or if it was such a problem, a matter of life and death then go to a hospital, last time i checked the "pharisees" havent closed them on a sunday yet, and they will give you the prescription you so desperately needed.

and as for having no food, its called pre-planning, if you run out of food on a day when for years the shops have either not been open at all, or arent open until after lunch then you are either very bad at planning, and it serves you right, or else you are homeless and poor, in which case shop opening times would affect you as you wouldnt be in them anyway!

the world is just becoming more and more "Go go go" people dont actually stop to appreciate what they have or take time to enjoy life and to enjoy being with the people that mean so much to them. in ten twenty or thirty years time when your children, if you have or are planning to have any, no longer talk to you, you can explain "i didnt mean to neglect you, i just HAD to shop on one of my days off rather than spend time with you".

steveymp

The bible bashers in our wee country will oppose as always:mad:

People crying out for jobs "apparently", full Sunday opening hours will create more employment and be better for the economy and tourism surely:o

Just my tupence worth, let the christian release the lions on me now:rotfl: