please empty your brain below
Banbury, in Oxon, also had an early closing day - on Tuesday. I remember it being a big thing in the seventies, but it tailed off in the eighties.

The Banbury Man | Homepage | 15.07.20 - 9:21 a.m. | #

My Midland Red timetable agrees.
Added, thanks.

The only other 'Tuesday' early closings in the Midlands were at Bromyard and Dawley.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 15.07.20 - 9:26 a.m. | #

Legislatively, this still exists (and is required) in Ireland - but it's in a 1938 act that also bans most Sunday trading which is completely and utterly ignored by everyone including the entire legal system. The tradition was all but dead by the 80s with a single local hardware store keeping it up until the late 1990s in my area. Could be any day from Monday to Saturday legally but I don't know anywhere it wasn't Wednesday

Many secondary schools still take a half day; or at least a few hours earlier, on those days. Mine swapped to Friday once the local shops stopped closing early on Wednesday, however.

Cian | Homepage | 15.07.20 - 9:30 a.m. | #

'Ian visits' states that councils had the powers to impose an early closing day but not all chose to do so. This would be consistent with my experience when in 1965 and 1966 as a student I spent several stints unloading delivery lorries at Sainsburys in Harpenden. I don't think we closed. I suppose it was logical for those shops that were happy to close to choose to do so on the same afternoon as obviously footfall was lower on that day.

It will be interesting to see whether post pandemic some shops reduce their hours on a consistent basis so as to cut labour costs and try to concentrate shopping times.

J. | 15.07.20 - 9:36 a.m. | #

Libraries in Harrow seem to have embraced this concept - a half day here, a full day there, and just when you've internalised which day is which, they change it all!
Only 2 of the 4 remaining branches have currently reopened - I hope that isn't a bad sign for the other two! :/

Cornish Cockney | 15.07.20 - 9:47 a.m. | #

J - Living in Harpenden through the 60's early closing day was definitely Wednesday so we did our shopping at St.Albans market (Wed/Sat)

St.Albans was Thursday (because of the market) and so was Luton (but that was over the border!)

Tigger | 15.07.20 - 9:53 a.m. | #

Braintree Essex. Market Day on Wednesday, early closing on Thursday. The market is now a shadow of its former self and early closing just a memory.

Rob | 15.07.20 - 10:13 a.m. | #

I grew up in Epping, Essex. Churches Pork Butchers continued to observe early closing on Wednesdays until very recently. They have just re-opened after refurbishment and are now closed all day on Wednesday!

I worked in a Department Store in Oxford Street in the 1970's and could never understand why John Lewis used to have their early closing day on Saturday, surely the busiest day of the week even back then.

Richard | 15.07.20 - 10:15 a.m. | #

Denham was Wednesday, which matched Uxbridge making it easier to remember but meaning you couldn't hop on a bus if you desperately needed something (though I can't remember that we ever had such a problem).

John Lewis deserves a special mention for its Saturday afternoon closures until relatively recently (1990s?).

Andrew S | 15.07.20 - 10:20 a.m. | #

Shops in Barking, Essex used to close early on a Thursday.
Strangely our Doctors surgery in Barking still closes on a Thursday afternoon but the local pharmacy doesn’t .

Ray | 15.07.20 - 10:45 a.m. | #

Visitors from out of town to London on a Saturday back in the 60's and early 70's would 'do' Oxford Street in the morning and then head over to Kensington High Street to hit the three department stores there, Barker's, Derry and Toms, and Pontings. Pontings was most down-scale and I remember the lift where a disabled war veteran pulled on a rope to start the lift in motion. But best of all in the memory stakes is a Knicker-Bocker Glory from the restaurant in the roof gardens at Derry and Toms. The downfall of the stores in Kensington wasn't triggered by the ending of early-closing Saturdays in Oxford Street though, but by the change of shopping habits in the 70s which saw many such stores close. Thanks for the excuse to dig up memories DG.

Brightside | 15.07.20 - 10:47 a.m. | #

A couple more for Sussex: Battle on Wednesday, Rye on Tuesday.

Jonathan Wadman | 15.07.20 - 11:01 a.m. | #

Lot of pubs round my way still close 1500-1700 like the good old days.

scrumpy | 15.07.20 - 11:13 a.m. | #

Seeing the topic I automatically thought "early closing day was Wednesday". And looking at the table I see why.

Scott | Homepage | 15.07.20 - 11:37 a.m. | #

I thought that back when offices were open Saturday mornings and closed at lunchtime, the shops did the same thing, so John Lewis was keeping up tradition by remaining shut Saturday afternoons, the same way they they didn't open Sundays when that was first legalised.

That whole system broke down during the 1960s, with Saturday becoming a rest day for office/factory workers, but a full day for shops.

Still Anon | 15.07.20 - 11:45 a.m. | #

As John Lewis is an employee-owned mutual, I can see why the staff might have preferred early closing on Saturday.

My Doctor's Surgery in Barking is also closed on Thursday afternoons. Possibly the same one as Ray.

JohnC | 15.07.20 - 11:52 a.m. | #

Thankyou for including the IW early closing, DG. I well-remember the Thursday early-closing in Ryde. It was quite a shock to come across Weds early-closing after moving away, thought it must be a mainland thing!

Cau1khead | 15.07.20 - 11:58 a.m. | #

I don't recall John Lewis being closed on Saturday afternoons so that must have ended quite a while back. I do remember though that up to the 1990s they were closed all day on Mondays, which sometimes puzzled people who walked up to the doors expecting to enter. I think Sainsbury's was another chain which used to shut on Mondays (maybe until the 1970s?) but I can't find anything on the internet to confirm this.

michaelH | 15.07.20 - 12:01 p.m. | #

Interesting that early closing was done for the benefit of staff. When I was growing up (in a former British colony) I was told that early closing was initially to give shopkeepers a half-day to drive to the wholesalers in town.

Such niceties as giving staff a break weren't really a thing in those days, but may be the reason that the half-day closing tradition still exists in some areas here, despite the proliferation of shopping centres open all week.

LeoH | 15.07.20 - 12:05 p.m. | #

Jonathan - I can confirm that early closing in Rye on a Tuesday continued into the 1980s, when I went to school there.

DG - I'm sure you're not taking requests, but any idea what early closing was for Shepperton (where I live now)?

Isambard | 15.07.20 - 12:41 p.m. | #

My parents' hardware shop in Aylesford, Kent, was early closing on Wednesdays in the 80s. It's now a takeaway. My dad used to go to Cash & Carry and the wholesalers, I'd get to go sometimes. I have fond memories of the C&C chocolate milk from the cold room with the plastic hanging doors.

Sykobee | 15.07.20 - 12:46 p.m. | #

Sainsbury's supermarkets used to close at 4 p.m. on a Saturday in 1980 and were closed all day Mondays. They began to open on Monday afternoons around that time. :Late night trading was Thursday and Friday, till 8 p.m.; Wednesday nights were added in the early 1980s.

Paul | 15.07.20 - 1:52 p.m. | #

I think John Lewis started to open on a Monday when the Sunday trading and early closing laws changed in 1994.

Andrew | 15.07.20 - 2:23 p.m. | #

167 towns on this list, but no complaints about legibility compared to the 101 mask thoughts.

TomH | 15.07.20 - 2:45 p.m. | #

I was working in a Bond Street hi-fi shop in 1974 and most of the shops closed early on Saturday. Trade was always very light.
Also note that many trade-counters are still only open until midday on Saturdays.

MartinO'Holcombe | 15.07.20 - 3:06 p.m. | #

Like most adjoining small town centres, the shops in Gerrards Cross and Chalfont St Peter had early closing on different days. Wednesday for the former, Thursday for the latter.

Charles | Homepage | 15.07.20 - 3:08 p.m. | #

In Scotland early closing was always on Wednesdays, although that fizzled out in the 1980s with other liberalisations such as alcohol being sold in supermarkets - I remember that being introduced across the country to general sensation as my birthplace had been "dry" for nearly 50 years.

There have never been shortened hours on a Sunday - 1200-1800 with 1130 opening for browsing is unknown.

Universities also had a half day. There were no lectures at the University of Edinburgh on Wednesday afternoon when I was there.

Alastair Scott | 15.07.20 - 3:17 p.m. | #

Universties' half day on Wednesday (and, originally, also on Saturdays) is quite common, to allow sporting events between institutions.

Another relic of office workers having to work on Saturday mornings is the half day some public-sector institutions still observe on Maundy Thursday - this was transferred from a half day that used to be given on the morning of Holy Saturday to bridge the gap between the Good Friday public holiday and the Easter weekend.

Football match traditional Saturday kick off at 3pm also allowed people (including many players in the days of part-timers) to get there after working Saturday morning

timbo | 15.07.20 - 3:39 p.m. | #

In the Sixties I had a 'Saturday' job in Sainsbury. That really meant a few hours on the Friday evening as Saturday was as above, a shorter trading day. I'd had a few Saturday jobs down street markets before starting here but this was the only one where we were deducted National Insurance!

I asked the shop manager, "Wally" why the company didn't trade on Mondays. He said that traditionally Monday was washing day, and store trade (this was a counter service store, as were many Sainsbury shops then) was minimal. Then, women were the home-keepers while men went to work; not everything changed in the 60s. The costs of a full opening on a Monday were never balanced by the takings. The arrival of washing machines and launderettes had by-passed Sainsbury management...

Joel | 15.07.20 - 5:12 p.m. | #

Twickenham and Richmond, Wednesdays

John | 15.07.20 - 5:19 p.m. | #

Hayes (Kent) was Thursday which, as you say, was most unusual for places in London sarf of the river.

It sticks out particularly because I remember wanting stamps one Thursday and just assumed all shops would be open. The Post Office in Hayes was shut but the local stationery shop was one of the few shops open and it was at the time when other outlets had just started to be allowed to sell books of stamps.

Pedantic of Purley | 15.07.20 - 7:39 p.m. | #

Interesting to see so many other Harpenden-ites here... I have vague memories of some shops still having early closing there on a Wednesday into the early 2000s, but I wouldn't bet 100% on my memory being correct these days!

TC | 15.07.20 - 9:07 p.m. | #

I remember Mortlake and Sheen being on on Thursdays

NickW | 15.07.20 - 9:28 p.m. | #

Based on nothing more than it being much mentioned in the sitcom “Desmond’s”, Peckham appeared to be another with a Wednesday half day.

Phil | 15.07.20 - 11:35 p.m. | #

Tottenham and Wood Green, until the GLC, part of Middlesex,Thursday, although Harringay was Wednesday.

winsleigh | 16.07.20 - 8:11 a.m. | #

I grew up in Barkingside (Essex) in the 1960s and 1970s. I still recall early closing day on Thursdays back then.

Alan S | 16.07.20 - 8:17 a.m. | #

Thursday for early closing seems to have been widespread in east London/Essex. I've just had a look at the Automobile Association's Road Book of England & Wales (4th edition, 1965) in which the gazetteer lists early closing days. It was Thursday in all of these places: Ilford, Wanstead, Woodford Green, Barking, Dagenham, East Ham, West Ham, Romford, Hornchurch, Upminster, Rainham, and Chingford; Leyton and Walthamstow are also listed, but with no EC day stated.

Alan S | 16.07.20 - 9:05 a.m. | #

Lambeth was Wednesday. There’s still one or two places that still close lunchtime on Wednesday.

Bryn Davies | 16.07.20 - 9:27 a.m. | #

My inner London school used to finish early on Wednesdays - it was a pain for parents of children in the younger years who still collected them. It ended at the start of the 90s.

E1W-er | 16.07.20 - 11:50 a.m. | #

I remember EC continuing at Post Offices in particular. Understandable, especially for sub-offices staffed six days a week by just two people.

Bob L-S | 16.07.20 - 12:26 p.m. | #

I worked in a shoe shop in Wood Green in 1977-8. It closed at 1pm on a Thursday, and I was always conflicted by the wonder of 4 hours of freedom on pay-day afternoon (usually in record shops, or hanging out with the cool girls from WH Smith) and the apparent pointlessness of getting suited up and walking 45 minutes just for a 4 hour shift.

Frank F | 17.07.20 - 8:18 a.m. | #











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