Christmas Eve this year falls on Sunday: Marks & Spencer asks for relaxation of opening hour rules

Smaller independent retailers are however allowed to open all day, under legislation framed in the late 1990s.

Marks & Spencer have been concerned about the impact on their business this year, and have written to Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council to ask for extended opening hours on Christmas Eve.

The business has two outlets in the borough - Newtownabbey and Crumlin - and over a dozen stores in total across NI.

The retailer asked the council for requesting an extension to store trading hours on Sunday, 24 December of 9am to 6pm instead of 1pm to 6pm

A report given to councillors stated “the company feels that opening earlier on Christmas Eve would allow shoppers more time in a less congested and pressured environment”.

“It also highlights positive benefits in relation to easing traffic congestion and stress on employees, as well as the overtime opportunities generated during the current cost of living crisis".

Members also heard that similar requests had been received from Lidl supermarket and the Abbey Centre shopping complex.

However council officers responded that current legislation does not permit extended trading hours on Sundays - with no exemptions for Christmas - even though the council did extend Sunday trading during the festive period, due to the pandemic.

However, on this occasion a report presented to councillors stated that The Shops (Sunday Trading) (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 only allows extended Sunday shopping during summer months where the borough has been designated as a holiday resort.

A Department for Communities spokesman said the legislation provides for larger stores - with a floor area of more than 280 square metres - to open between 1pm and 6pm on a Sunday. "It does not permit a change in Sunday opening hours for Christmas Eve, and the Department does not have the power to vary these hours.”

A spokeswoman for Belfast City Council concurred. "There are no exemptions for Christmas, and local authorities don’t have the power to amend the opening times,” she said.

The Presbyterian Church said legislation said the request by Marks & Spencer was therefore "redundant".

It added: "As a Church we have always had a particular concern that workers would find it more difficult to attend their place of worship on a Sunday, if trading hours were extended. This remains our position.”

Glyn Roberts, Chief Executive of Retail NI, said that people now begin their Christmas shopping earlier than ever before.

"So I don't see any significant problems on Christmas Eve if people do have last minute items they want to get," he said.

The current law allows smaller retailers that he represents an opportunity to compete against major rivals.

His understanding was that the current law was a compromise pressed for by shop worker unions whose members wanted Sunday mornings off work.

Marks & Spencer was invited to comment.