SUNDAY TRADING

THE LORDS DAY

In a recent piece under the heading 'Bucking the Trend' I made reference to a group in Britain called 'Keep Sunday Special' and said that they had been campaigning against Sunday opening for many years with 'little success'. I am indebted to Tim for correcting this impression and I am glad to print his comment below which shows how off the mark I was. Taking his advice I went to the KSS website from which I gleaned the news item which appears just below Tims remarks. ~ GOSh.~

“Just to clarify, in 1987 the Keep Sunday Special campaign successfully defeated Margaret Thatcher to prevent the shops opening on Sundays. The Act eventually returned to parliament in 1994, and although time Keep Sunday Special didn't manage to win this vote, we did achieve a compromise position, that large shops in England & Wales would be limited to 6 hours opening on Sunday. In early 2006 the British government launched an enquiry into Sunday shopping with a view to full y deregulating Sunday shopping (24/7 opening). Keep Sunday Special joined forces with a number of other groups and successfuly managed to get the government to withdraw this proposal in July 2006. There is lots more on our website!” ~ Tim ~

GIVE US A BREAK

Campaigning group Keep Sunday Special today appealed for a fresh look at Sunday shopping to give us all a break, especially those working on Sundays.
The appeal comes as new GfK NOP findings reveal 81 per cent of people believe that protecting Sunday as a ‘family day’ is a good idea and almost three quarters of people, 73 per cent, said it would not bother them at all if large shops shut on Sundays if local convenience stores were open, a staggering 22% increase from 2004.

Speaking today the Director of Keep Sunday Special, Dr Michael Schluter said:-‘People are crying out for a break and a release from the pressure of working each day of the week, they want family time back, they want their Sunday back and are simply not interested in any more shopping,’ Dr Schluter said.

‘We’ve had thirteen years of Sunday trading and yet still two thirds of people say Sunday should be a different day to the rest of the week, and almost a third (31%) of people say that they never shop in large shops or supermarkets at all on Sundays. Sunday has been stolen from people and they want to get it back - above all they want a break.’‘Is it any wonder that two thirds (66%) of people think Sundays have lost their special feel and all for only 7 per cent of the population who actually use large shops and supermarkets on most Sundays? ‘Almost a quarter (23%) of people are beginning to say large shops being open for six hours on a Sunday is too much.’ ‘Think too about the potential environmental benefits through saving energy and fewer journeys if large shops were shut,’ Dr Schluter said.‘It’s time to acknowledge that the passing of the Sunday Trading Act in1994 was a big mistake; public opinion is saying that Britain needs a break!’