If I wanted to take my family on a week-long trip to London during Easter, how much of the city would be shut down? Are the shops closed and so on?

I know Good Friday is a bank holiday, but I don’t know what exactly it means beyond, I suppose, the banks being closed? 😁

  • @[email protected]
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    4 days ago

    Easter isn’t really a big deal in the UK. I’d expect places to be closed over Christmas but probably not Easter.

    There may be reduced opening hours and smaller venues and shops may be closed but London is a vibrant city so I expect you’ll find plenty to do.

    If there are specific places you want to visit it might be worth checking their website or emailing them to confirm. Or just try booking tickets for those dates and you’ll see.

    If anything because people have time off you might find there’s more going on at Easter than other times. You’ll certainly find egg hunts and other such activities for kids at tourist attractions

    • TWeaK
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      13 days ago

      Yeah you get reduced hours with a number of things, particularly buses. Shops have more incentive to stay open, though.

      Classic examples being Good Friday running like a regular Saturday, Saturday running like a regular Sunday but Easter Sunday is as normal because everything is already sparse enough.

    • hand
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      23 days ago

      I’ve just been reading up on this. It’s a law from 1994 and as I understand it; these laws were introduced to protect smaller family retailers and to help people attend church. If so, this feels like an incredible outdated and archaic law, no?

    • @9point6
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      44 days ago

      Huh

      I had no idea there were actual rules

  • NickwithaC
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    104 days ago

    It just means a few of the office workers get a 3 day weekend but London will be as busy as ever the whole time and nothing is completely off limits. If you find one place that happens to have closed for the day then there are 5 others nearby that will be open.

  • @[email protected]OP
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    24 days ago

    Thank you all, sounds like it would be a fine time to visit 😊

    Haven’t been to the UK since brexit, but I expect it’s the same as ever? 🙂

  • Flax
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    03 days ago

    Generally everything is closed from and during Good Friday to Easter Monday. There probably are special services going on at famous Cathedrals though for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday (in some places, Holy Saturday has some form of vigil going on also)