Sunday Trading Laws - is it time to move on?

Having grown up with 1/2 day closing during the week and no Sunday trading, I think I preferred that. Totally different way of life, certainly less greed, less road rage, less stress I could go on. I'm not even sure that it had a major effect on employment, I think many bosses just altered their staff rotas. People were also more family orientated and certainly more friendly and sociable without the need of social media... I may however just be looking through rose tinted specs, it may just be an old git thing..... I know which I prefer though  

I'm with Barney, it seemed much better without Sunday trading. The concept of a day off for most people is a nice one. A more relaxed way of life as is seen in many other European countries that have much lower heart attack rates. Bring in 2 hour lunch breaks and siestas too please. 

I grew up with a father who was a GP who was on call every 6th weekend and that meant he had to be available ALL weekend. It was hard for us (especially as there were no mobiles so mum had to stay in too and answer the landline!) It seems more and more industries now work at weekends and I don't think it's a good thing. Families thrive when they can have time off together. 

I start thinking about all this and it makes me want to move abroad! Not going to happen though. 

Well I'm with the majority ..South African used to be a no Sunday trade as well and it was nice to be able to do family things together ,like fishing or water Skiing as it was a day at the dam ... Although even last year shops have to close early every night and it makes the roads quieter and people go out to eat ,so yes I all for it not being extended ,but I can also see the other side as well

Wow!  So, 100% want to remove / reduce Sunday trading....    ..where are the people who want it?   (It can't be just the politicians)!

I'm always wishing those days were back, it was always nice to have a very quiet town on the Sunday - but not anymore.   Like Barney, I wonder sometimes whether it's my rose tinted specs.

The next question though is how many of you have shopped on Sunday.  If nobody turned up, they wouldn't open. 

I just think that the whole UK culture (call it what you like) has over the last 30-40 years been totally eradicated now. In fact I don't even know what my culture is anymore. As a lad I grew up in a village called Kingsteighton in Devon, the nearest town was the market town of  Newton Abbot. Everything shut at 5pm on the dot, if you had forgotten to purchase milk, you'd have to borrow some from your neighbours, nowadays you either don't know your neighbours or scared witless to answer the door to them.

Kingsteighton has to all intense and purposes become a suburb of Newton Abbot. As a kid if you traveled from one to the other, you would travel through farmland / countryside. Nowadays there is no break, it's just a constant flow of housing and shops, unless you lived there you wouldn't know whether you were in the village or the town. As a kid, I would cycle into Newton Abbot and take worn out shoes to the cobbler for new soles and heels to be fitted, nowadays you'd laugh at the idea. On a Sunday you could walk from one end of the town center to the other end and not see a soul, if you did you'd probably acknowledge them and they reciprocated in some way or other. Today you probably couldn't give a fig if you saw someone and neither would they...

Milkmen, have nearly all disappeared, probably down to how the major supermarkets squeezed the farmers on price, much like the local pubs as they can not possibly compete with supermarket off-sales nor being under the cosh of a brewery, many pubs can now be purchased for less than a family's average weekly shopping bill...

At school, we were taught and led to believe that as we got older everything would become automated and us children would work less and have more leisure time than our predecessors.... what a huge lie that turned out to be. Cars, everyone nowadays  believes it is a necessity to have one and they cannot survive life without one, our little legs have all but become useless to us, we've all become cocooned in our own little worlds and sod everyone else, otherwise stories like this would never exist and there are plenty more stories just like that.

The last time I went Sunday shopping was at Homebase, not my favourite shop, but it is local and Only wanted some snail/slug killer. I parked the van centrally in the parking bay, the person in the bay to the left hadn't.... As I walked away I can hear, "excuse me" "excuse me" deciding to ignore this I walked into the shop after 5minutes in store. I hear "Oi you, move your fffing van" "yer what?" was my response "your blocking my car in" "no I'm not I'm parked squarely in the bay" he thinks about it and then starts slagging me of for his bad parking. I then find the slug/snail killer. Not wanting to kill my cats I started to read the manufactures instructions and whether it was suitable, I read about 3 or 4 different makes, unbeknown to me a woman was standing behind me, who I eventually clock, I apologised to her and moved to one side. The amount of verbal abuse I received from this woman took the biscuit and I just flipped and I ended up calling her all the names under the sun..... All I've done is to pop out on a Sunday to get a £5.99 bottle of slug killer and all I've got in return is abuse....Which in turn just ruined my Sunday....

Originally Posted by Barney

“......The last time I went Sunday shopping was at Homebase, not my favourite shop, but it is local and Only wanted some snail/slug killer. I parked the van centrally in the parking bay, the person in the bay to the left hadn't.... As I walked away I can hear, "excuse me" "excuse me" deciding to ignore this I walked into the shop after 5minutes in store. I hear "Oi you, move your fffing van" "yer what?" was my response "your blocking my car in" "no I'm not I'm parked squarely in the bay" he thinks about it and then starts slagging me of for his bad parking. I then find the slug/snail killer. Not wanting to kill my cats I started to read the manufactures instructions and whether it was suitable, I read about 3 or 4 different makes, unbeknown to me a woman was standing behind me, who I eventually clock, I apologised to her and moved to one side. The amount of verbal abuse I received from this woman took the biscuit and I just flipped and I ended up calling her all the names under the sun..... All I've done is to pop out on a Sunday to get a £5.99 bottle of slug killer and all I've got in return is abuse....Which in turn just ruined my Sunday.... ”

See, there's a reason not to go Sunday shopping!

I suspect I might be swimming against the tide on this one 

I love the idea that the world used to be more family centric and everyone was more friendly, but I'm not convinced, I reckon it's just a classic the good old days.

I'm very lucky, I've still got my granny around who is refusing to go down without a fight, and love listening to her going on about the same old stories. Getting a new battery for the wireless from the bicycle shop, which lasted 48 hours, gas lighting, no central heating, ice on the inside of the windows, married life in digs, which was the whole family living in 1 room. No cars on the road because no one could afford one. 2 buses a week, other than the school one which arrived an hour after school closed, poor medical care, high mortality rate for kids.

Then rationing until the late 1940's, no decent luxury goods coming through until the late 50's, with the country still bankrupt in the 60's (something s don't change), fighting against the collapse of it's Empire, coming to terms with it's loss of power and prestige in the world. Then there's National Service, lack of sexual equality, equal pay, racial discrimination from ethnic groups who were invited to come here or gained UK passports as the Empire crumbled.

Maybe the 70's was the golden era, hotbed of socialism, union power, discontent, strikes, under investment in Nationalised Industries, low quality and poorly manufactured goods, quickly eclipsed by the Far East.

No wonder the 80's and 90's was seen as a beacon of hope by so many.

We have the benefit of amazing medical science that our parents can only wonder at, and our grandparents wouldn't believe. We have technology that you take for granted such as your smart phone. Attitudes to women and race have finally for the large part become a non issue, compared to 30, 40, 50 years ago.

So I don't buy the good old days argument, I'd sooner bring my kids up now rather than any other decade in our history.

But things have changed. Personally (and no doubt controversially) I blame it all on the welfare state and the EEC/EU.

IMHO over the last 30 years we've collectively become lazy, helpless and dependant on the state. No body needs to take responsibility anymore, because it's no ones fault, it the governments 

We've become soft as a nation, where's the discipline? Why aren't kids scared of coppers? Why can't coppers give you a clip round the ear? Why aren't teachers respected? Why are teenagers claiming benefit instead of picking potatoes or cleaning cars?

The freedom of movement policy has seen economic migrants, legally and illegally flood into the UK, with the welfare state abused even further, and our soft nature just standing there and not doing about it. 

I wish it was a simple case of shops not opening on Sunday to restore family values, but it's going to take a lot more than that, discipline in the home!

Weak parents need to step up. No more kids watching Peppa Pig eating their tea on the sofa. Get their arses sat at the table where they belong. No more sleeping in mummys bed, no more back-chat to adults, bring back basic respect and values. Then maybe that will follow them through and they will respect their elders when they get older.

We live in a world where the class system has been pretty much dismantled. Old money is still around, but small businesses are the new economy. The school tie system has gone and you can genuinely do anything you want. Technology and a more modern way of thinking has enabled this. With the right attitude there are no barriers to business or being successful, education, single parent, gender, race.

But does that mean family life has to be sacrificed? No more than any other non 9-5 plodder job, plus as the boss you don't have to work the whole weekend and can spend more time with the family 

I know all my neighbours, (although still have a pratt next door) but try and be sociable and neighbourly, it is nice feeling part of a community. The kids know right from wrong and are polite, and hopefully there are still plenty of us with a similar attitude out there to counter balance the hand out generation.

But the family big shop is normally on a Sunday morning because it's quiet, and hopefully those at Tescos are on double bubble and are there by choice.

MrB makes a good point, if no one shopped on a Sunday, it wouldn't be viable. But people vote with their feet, which is in my view is much better than being told what to do by the government.

So for me, RIP Sunday Trading... <and runs for cover>

Well, my "rose-tinted glasses" were specifically around Sunday trading and you've just bought in a whole load of other points that aren't relevant!

I agree with you on many of your points (welfare state, technology, health care) but I still say we don't need Sunday shopping, and if you go because it's quieter how long do you think it'll stay that way? 

ahh, but I feel cleansed and it's good for the soul