Press release

Extended opening hours to continue when non-essential retail returns

Longer opening hours in England will help people return to our high streets safely when non-essential shops re-open from 12 April at the earliest.

From:
Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (2018 to 2021) and The Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP
Published
26 March 2021
This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government
  • Temporary measures to make socially distanced shopping easier to continue
  • Longer opening hours for retail to give shoppers more flexibility and ease transport pressures
  • Flexible working hours for construction also to continue, helping industry continue to operate safely

Extended daily opening hours for non-essential retail will continue – helping people return to our high streets safely, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick MP has today (26 March 2021) confirmed.

This will help ensure the safe re-opening of non-essential shops by giving people greater flexibility to avoid peak times and easing transport pressures.

When they reopen from 12 April at the earliest, shops will have the flexibility to open until 10pm Monday to Saturday.

A written ministerial statement was laid on Thursday 25 March to give non-essential retail greater flexibility as the country cautiously moves out of lockdown.

As part of the £56 million ‘Welcome Back Fund’ announced last week, Mr Jenrick is encouraging councils to continue supporting social distancing measures and relaxing planning rules where possible to ensure people can continue to keep a safe distance on our high streets.

The government is also extending flexible working hours on construction sites, allowing food deliveries to supermarkets over more time periods, and keeping the flexibility for pubs and restaurants to erect marquees to help increase seating capacity in a Covid-secure way.

Communities Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

To support businesses to reopen and recover, I’ve extended measures to allow shops to stay open for longer. This is part of a package of support to help reopen our shops and high-streets safely – backed by £56 million.

This will provide a much-needed boost for many businesses – protecting jobs, reducing pressure on public transport and supporting people and communities to continue to visit their high streets safely and shop locally.

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Updates to this page

Published 26 March 2021