AIBU to wish places were open later?

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NJellybean@reddit

With you here! I regularly fantasise about packing everything in and moving to a Spanish city like Málaga or Madrid. I love their lengthy school summer holidays, the (primary) kids are in school with an hour lunch and still only do 9-2. It’s just the job market. I speak conversational Spanish, husband doesn’t. I’d happily ditch my busy job in a uni for work in a hotel reception or a shop or bar and have low stress, odd hours and convenient time with my daughter.

We took our daughter (6) last week to Málaga and loved it. She is also a night owl, none of this “bath and bed by 7.30pm” has ever worked for her, or us.

She thrives on the daytime fun, a chill in the late afternoon and out for meals/walks/park at 8pm. I don’t know why we don’t encourage it. It seems a lot of my friends all stick to routine too much and it works for their UK life but it means holidays are no fun.

We have found she’s the perfect fit for a European city break, and we book them quite cheap and do a few nights in apartments above a city.

It means we can stay out late with her, she draws or we play games and drink wine, she has tapas and we call it a night when she’s clearly tired.

I can recommend Verona if you’ve kids and like a late start! Gardaland theme park was great for our daughter. They also have twilight opening hours that are cheaper.

We moved to stay in Peschiera after Verona and got the free shuttle, but you can stay in Verona and get the train to Peschiera (15 min) and the shuttle is outside the station.

For Gardaland, book via the promo in the Lidl app (the German version) and it’s a huge saving!

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

Finally a parent alike. I struggle to find any parents in the uk like us. All my kids are the same and would love a European city break. We love an evening activity, a chilled afternoon. Never done the bath&bed by 7 either. It’s too stressful forcing them to sleep. I follow their cues. When we have evenings out in the summer, it’s great fun and by the time we are home bedtime runs smoothly as they’ve got all their energy out. A happy parent = happy children. But im not happy when im rushing to get the kids out for a day out because it shuts too early, it’s just stressful. Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll check it out!

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NJellybean@reddit

Absolutely my thoughts too.

I think our friends think we are a bit lazy with it and should enforce these routines… but we follow her.

We took her to a great outdoor play space today, then for food. Got in the car 7pm, it was a 1.5hr drive. She napped most of it. I’d say all the parents I know would lose their mind at the thought of a 7pm sleep and getting home 8:30pm and tackling bedtime.

She was happy, calm and actually really gloriously easy to get to bed! She was asleep by 9.30pm and will probably be less likely to wake and come in.

I hate rushing about in the morning, we are meeting friends tomorrow and have to leave at 9 tomorrow- that’s way too early for a non-work day 🤣

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Prize-Phrase-7042@reddit

I fully agree. People go like "why is the high street dying"?

Well, if 5 days out of 7 in a week, you're open from 9am to 4pm, i.e. where the vast majority of the working people are at work, no wonder you can't make money to make your business viable.

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setokaiba22@reddit

And it’s been tried. When they stay open later they do not make enough money to justify it. Very very few stores make the return with this (mostly supermarkets).

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wildeaboutoscar@reddit

I wonder if promoting the late opening times is a factor? If people are used to a shop closing at 5pm, they're going to assume it will be shut unless it's really clear the times have changed.

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thehatteryone@reddit

Many supermarkets had move to 24/7 and more to midnight opening, in to 2000-2010s. They obviously saw a benefit as it became more common. But the world was changing, especially online grocery shopping. Post-Covid most realised there was no incentive to stay open late/r any more - both staffing and criminal/antisocial issues were an expensive or complicated problem to keep on top of hence why most never returned to open all hours. As with OPs original general point - the demand doesn't match the expense, especially as many people who'd prefer later will still spend the same money just earlier in the day if there isn't a later option. Just one business staying open later also scoops up the little trade that wouldn't be worthwhile spread across all the competitors. Maybe Starbucks isn't your favourite coffee but if what you want a place to sit with your friends and chat over a drink and snack, then it's there as an option, when an owner-operated business probably doesn't want to spend all their hours working.

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Sutraner@reddit

Or, shops shut at 5pm because culturally that's how British culture likes to act

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No-Photograph3463@reddit

Weird though that whenever christmas comes around most places do late night shopping and the whole place is rammed with people...

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AnonymousBadger104@reddit

Almost as if people shop more at Christmas. Wild.

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No-Photograph3463@reddit

Shops aren't at capacity though at Christmas, you don't see shops queuing out the door. Hence, they are opening in the evening to appeal to more customers, so if it's done at Christmas surely doing it for the rest of the year would make sense too.

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terryjuicelawson@reddit

People say this but if they trial opening late evenings, they are just dead and money is down the drain paying staff to be there. More people are free in the week than you may assume. Also a lot of people who do work office hours may well do in a city centre or high street type area and they can use the shops during lunch or straight after.

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LowarnFox@reddit

Yes totally - my city centre growing up did "late night shopping" once a week and was open until 8pm - it was always really busy. 9am on a weekday it was usually dead!

Waterstones - who you would expect to have gone under a long time ago - also tend to open until at least 6pm in a lot of locations, which must help them.

Even switching to a 10.30-6.30 model could help a lot of shops!

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Hame_Impala@reddit

Waterstones also generally feels like a somewhat pleasant place to be instead of a crammed shop where everyone is miserable.

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gulfrend@reddit

Perhaps one day all shops will return to the radical concept of "being inviting" instead of resembling dehumanising cattle grids designed to funnel your money into their tills.

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Beartato4772@reddit

Also they’re closed on Sunday and thus the queue on Saturday (9-1) is out the door and that’s so unpleasant you don’t visit then either.

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Neither_Process_7847@reddit

So much of British retail and even leisure hasn't adapted to the world of online shopping and wfh. Being dependent on commuters having little choice in where and when to shop just doesn't work any more. But being around where families actually live, and open when they want...that works.

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Zubi_Q@reddit

As an office worker, I hear you. 5pm is ridiculous and places should be open until 10pm IMO

Right now, it's only supermarkets and restaurants

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

I’m glad you agree. There is a huge mental health crisis rising more and more, I think lack of social time is adding to that but there is no where to socialise when you are working 9-5 and personally I hate the Saturday rush, it’s too busy. I prefer to rest on the weekends but go places in the week during the evenings.

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Gold-Creme-9597@reddit

Yes but you're sort of forgetting the mental health of the people who have to work late to accommodate you.

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

There are people who would actually prefer evening shifts, which would benefit their mental health…

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Gold-Creme-9597@reddit

And there's plenty of sectors to cater to that, thus there is choice. When all service jobs require late shifts it would be a disaster for anyone like yourself who has kids and wants to work and see them.

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LostHumanFishPerson@reddit

I work night shifts one rotation a month. I wish I could get a beer somewhere at 7:30AM. Although tbf Las Vegas is probably the only place in the world that really accommodates this

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adsm_inamorta@reddit

This is the worst thing you could do in that scenario. Night shifts have been proven to cause health issues due to change in sleep patterns. Add alcohol to the mix to stunt your daytime sleep and it's a recipe for early onset conditions.

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superjambi@reddit

There are a fair few 24 hour bars in London, there's one near Liverpool street.

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Public_Ad_1411@reddit

Wetherspoon pubs open at 8am, but there are some that open at 7am.

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humandustbin@reddit

Not sure if this is the rule everywhere but at the 2 Spoons I worked in didn't serve alcohol till 9am. One guy would come in each day at 8am and nurse an americano until 9am on the dot when he'd order a double Bells whiskey.

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Public_Ad_1411@reddit

Yes, you are correct.

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HRHHayley@reddit

This is how I met my husband.

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Hame_Impala@reddit

And they say romance is dead.

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Just-an-idiot-online@reddit

And my local one always has a queue. To be fair, I don't think any of them work nights but just like to get drunk.

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IHoppo@reddit

Wetherspoons outside Liverpool St is full of besuited people having a quick breakfast sharpener most mornings.

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Shoddy_Race3049@reddit

tbf the Japanese stock market closes about 7am they could be traders finishing a shift

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ChelseaGem@reddit

Try the airport. (You may need to book a flight first.)

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Streathamite@reddit

I think there are pubs near the old Smithfield’s and Billingsgate sites in London that have always opened early to accomodate the shift patterns of the market traders. Not sure if they’re still going/will be going much longer with the markets moving out though

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CrossRoadChicken@reddit

There's a few pub in Edinburgh that opens at 530am for the Nightshift posties finishing.

Although one sorting office just closed, so the pub nearby might stop doing it. And no new pub licences will be granted for such an early start

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Winston_Carbuncle@reddit

The casino in Milton Keynes has a 24 hour bar. No good to you if you're not from there but there might be one near you that has the same.

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Little_st4r@reddit

The casino in Milton Keynes shut down about 3 years ago

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pineappleandpeas@reddit

It would be great if even places like cafes, bakeries etc were open after 3-4pm - if you work 'normal' hours there's pretty much nothing open by the time you get home. Everything is shut apart from the pub/restaurant. Continental Europe is great for being able to go sit in a bakery with a drink and cake at 5-8pm and just relax after a day out. And they're always busy with locals. The only option in the UK is alcohol related, and less and less people drink. I'm guessing because there's no childcare options for later in the day places just can't staff it.

Last week it was 18 degrees and sunny in the afternoon, and we just wanted to go get ice cream and sit out after work - no where was open. Any ice cream cafe shut at 3...

I work shifts, most cafes/bakeries/shops i want to go to I go on my off days or around night shifts as they aren't open when I'm on 'normal' shifts. If you only work 'normal' hours you would never go.

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dinkidoo7693@reddit

I work in a coffee shop/cafe it goes dead after 3pm. We rarely get anyone in after 4pm, even on weekends so it makes no sense to stay open.

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Greedy-Nature-826@reddit

Isn't this because no-one expected you to be open?

Do you do anything like put music on, or have an author in or similar?

Opening late needs to be a cultural change that people adopt.

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dinkidoo7693@reddit

Theres music on and we hold regular events, theres food and non alcoholic drinks, people just don’t come in. We are in the town centre on the main shopping street, the shops are still open until 5:30/6.

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Greedy-Nature-826@reddit

That may well be why.

If the shops were open and somewhere people wanted to go it would help.

Being in more of a residential or even touristy area would likely help too.

Coffee shops could easily replace pubs as the third space but if they're a long way away from the customers then there will be very few willing to travel.

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Sutraner@reddit

Coffee shops could easily replace pubs as the third space

No they couldn't because British people don't give a fuck about them.

Why everyone on Reddit is obsessed with wanting to sit around in a disgustingly corporate Starbucks and pay 6 quid for some hot water and beans is beyond me

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adsm_inamorta@reddit

This isn't a conversation about corporate chains, this is independent businesses trying to justify staying open later on weekdays.

No they couldn't because British people don't give a fuck about them.

Yet most people visiting Europe always comment on how nice it is to be able to go somewhere to relax and drink a non-alc or alc drink in the evening

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dinkidoo7693@reddit

The shops are open??? Theres plenty of parking and bus stops nearby. Not many people want non alcoholic beverages in the evenings

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pajamakitten@reddit

Isn't this because no-one expected you to be open?

There is a difference between 3pm and 8pm. I think most people would expect a coffee shop to be closed at 8pm, however I think most would also expect a coffee shop to be open at 3pm too. The demand is just clearly not there.

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SamVimesBootTheory@reddit

Yeah there's a coffee shop near me where the way they've dealt with it is they operate as a coffee shop in the mornings and then swap over to being a bar in the late afternoon/evening and it seems to work pretty well for them

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dinkidoo7693@reddit

I doubt the owners can afford that at the moment but i can see how it might work. Saying that we did have a similar venue in town closer to the pubs and the bar side of things never really took off and it shut in 2023

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SongsAboutGhosts@reddit

I suppose that makes sense if people are mainly buying breakfast, lunch, and coffee.

I was looking for an open cafe near my son's nursery recently after drop-off so I could take the baby between toddler drop-off and our baby class, and before pick up as I was picking a friend up from the station and I wanted to see if we could do something relaxed and close by instead of having to take him home then back out. All the cafes I found in the area were 10-3/4pm, so not open early enough to bridge drop off and our class, or late enough to take us up to nursery pick up. They were all independent shops and I guess I'm used to places like Nero being open much longer. But I guess that must be a fairly niche case, at least in that location.

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dinkidoo7693@reddit

We were open 8am-6pm until recently. Now we close at 5pm, since theres hardly customers coming in now the last hour and half is just mainly cleaning and setting up for the morning

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wildeaboutoscar@reddit

Interestingly the dessert cafes seem to be the exception to the rule in my experience. They tend to be open in the evenings. There's not loads of them around though.

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DaftTwat@reddit

I live in a touristy area on the coast with absolutely loads of cafes and they're all shut by 4. But there's one little place doing drinks and ice cream open til 7 in the lighter months and it's always rammed at those times. Still no-one else has cottoned on to that.

Also means the shitty chains nearby like One Stop and Co-Ops getting loads of business instead with people clearing out their ice lollies and drinks

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

Ugh this exactly. Lots of times we have wanted to visit our local ice cream farm but it’s shut by the time we are free to go. We don’t always want to be eating out at restaurants as it costs a lot so there really isn’t much option especially with kids

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bannanawaffle13@reddit

I worked retail for 6 months and we opened to 11pm, the problem is that being open later starts to impact your work life balance, if your open to 7 it means staff either work longer hours or they start later, if your open to 7 for example you would need to open at 11, but when it closes you'll have a extra hour cleaning etc so staff aren't leaving until 8 which means they have no work life balance as your effectively going home and going straight to bed or sitting in front of the telly until 1am, while finishing at 5 gives you a chance to go out, to meet friends.

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RecentTwo544@reddit

This argument always comes up when 24 hour economies come up, but neglects to mention that there are already loads of sectors where this is a thing -

Everyone who does anything worthwhile in the NHS, pubs, many restaurants, nightclubs/music venues, warehouse work, pretty much the entire heavy manufacturing sector, most supermarkets (24hr opening ended some time ago, but there's still staff working overnight).

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SamVimesBootTheory@reddit

Yeah I work somewhere that closes 8pm mon-frifay and 9pm on Saturday and right now we're closing at 9pm during Easter and like it's just generally a pain as you're on shift until 1/2 past to account for cashing up and cleaning and like it gets old quick

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pajamakitten@reddit

Not retail but I work in the NHS and we agree on this. Finishing at 8pm is fine because you can get home and relax a bit before going to bed, while finishing at 9/10pm just means crashing the second you get home. It is a nightmare for your work/life balance.

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

I think the whole system is a bit screwed, either way. There needs to be a better work life balance as it is now. In my life I have finished later shifts which just meant I went to bed lager and got up later

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infieldcookie@reddit

Yeah I agree. I used to work some weekdays 2-10pm and then every other weekend. At the time I was living with four other people who worked M-F 9-5 and never saw them! When I’d have a day off mid week all my friends would be working.

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bannanawaffle13@reddit

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm effectively one lottery win away from being a hermit, I'm not very social, but working late or night just feels different, it's like living in your own world, you never see anyone apart from in passing, I like seclusion as a choice, but forced seclusion sucks and to want people to work those hours because you want a lie in kinda sucks, my family were late risers too, so when we did go anywhere we excepted the fact we will miss stuff, if we were that bothered we got up early.

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infieldcookie@reddit

I’m the same, I like the option to socialise with others even though I’m introverted.

In general I doubt most people would actually go out enough in the evenings for it to be worth it for businesses, in our shop the last few hours always tended to be quiet and this was in a busy shopping centre. Our busiest times were during the day. I also note they’re not volunteering to work these hours themselves lol

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bannanawaffle13@reddit

Yeah, I think people like the idea of going out after work, but after a full day's work, the last thing people want to do is go out shopping, and yeah, it's funny people are more than willing to sacrifice others' work-life balance to improve their own,

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lkap28@reddit

100% on your side. I’m always baffled when I travel within Europe and things are open so much later!

It feels so much calmer (I’m never rushing around like I am in the uk) and so centred around free time/socialising. Feels like your only option after 5pm is to start drinking (or have a sit-down meal).

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ddbbaarrtt@reddit

A lot of the reason that’s possible is due to the climate though. We don’t have the enough nice days or warm enough evenings when the weather isn’t nice to keep theme parks open late into the evening

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

Summer time we do have enough nice days

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lemonloafoaf@reddit

This is news to me.

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ddbbaarrtt@reddit

Nowhere near consistently enough

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bacon_cake@reddit

Precisely, so when it is warm people go outside.

I've not worked in hospitality but in retail and warm days were the quietest of all.

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

Any recommendations for places to visit in Europe?

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1182990@reddit

Copenhagen. They don't use the weather as an excuse. Tivoli was open well into the evening!

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wildeaboutoscar@reddit

In that part of the world it's definitely more of a case of not dressing for the weather rather than the weather itself. People just get on with it with the assumption that it will be cold.

I second Copenhagen. It's great for kids (and adults). The open air museum is another brilliant attraction for families. I went last Easter and they have farm animals there (including lambs, very cute)

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MsGlass@reddit

I’ve been up to Sweden and it’s a fully European vibe. People out and about. I don’t know what the difference is here? Maybe business rates and property prices/rent?

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lkap28@reddit

Portugal (Algarve), Spain, Greece. The hot weather almost definitely helps because people are happy to stay out - and they can utilise outdoor spaces in a way that we can’t do as reliably.

For things to do with kids, the touristy areas are your best bet - they know the demand is there so museums/zoos/waterparks etc tend to be open later :)

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Arsewhistle@reddit

What on earth does AIBU mean?

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nikhkin@reddit

I'd settle for Sunday opening hours being the same as the rest of the week.

Scotland are managing just fine with proper opening hours on a Sunday, and it worked well during the Olympics.

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bannanawaffle13@reddit

Nah, as a former retail worker, Sunday's our little treat, I swear people would lock us in the store 24/7 if it was more convenient.

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LoneWanderer2277@reddit

What if we made that day Monday instead?

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pajamakitten@reddit

Or you would just have those who do want to work Sunday evening working those shifts.

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bannanawaffle13@reddit

Have you worked retail? getting people to work sunday day time is hard enough, never mind evening as well

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semicombobulated@reddit

Completely agree. Businesses should either open or close on Sundays. The current half-way house arrangement benefits neither the customer, nor the staff who are already having to work most of the day anyway.

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semicombobulated@reddit

I completely agree. I work in retail management and have long been advocating for our opening hours to be shifted to 11-7 so that people can go shopping after work. 9-5 makes no business sense: there’s nobody around in the morning, and people are rattling the doors when we lock them at 5pm. It would also benefit the staff because we wouldn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to go to work.

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andtheniansaid@reddit

would also benefit the staff because we wouldn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to go to work.

if we add on 30mins each side for opening/closing - you think people would rather work 10.30-19.30, than 8.30-17.30?

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ProfessorYaffle1@reddit

*some* staff.

One issue is how things connect up.

Staying open until 7 is convenient for people who work 9-5 and want to be able to shop after they finish work.

But a staff member with children, (especially if they are a single parent) , is going to find it far harder t find child care that operrates that late, it's going to be far more expensive if they are paying for 3-7.30 rather than 3-5.30 and since the school dy starts the same time as ususual, they don't get to stay in bed in the morning, and their kid is exhausted from being in school and day-care for neearlly 12 hours.

In two parent households the extra cost isn't there but it means that there is less time for the famiy to spend together and more pressre on the other paretns to do more of the weekday evening cooking, homework, clubs etc. so for a lot of people it would be very unpopular.

Where I work, we have a lot of part time employees We always try, as much as humanly possible, to ofer people th e hours they want and it's almosst unheard of for anyone to want to do a late start and finish at 5, rather than starting at 9 and finishing eary. The only exception I can think of was someone who was doing a phased return to work after an illness and they initially did late start andearly finish, but pretty much eveyone who is doing reduced hours wants to leave early, not start late, and that remains true even when the reason for the shorter hours is not to fit round child care.

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

Interesting you say that as a company I worked for had the option of a late start which most favoured. Most were childless however

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cheerfulviolet@reddit

This is what Central London retail does now. I start work at 10am and apart from the shops at stations and cafes which are obviously open for breakfast, almost nothing is open on my way to the office, but when I leave at 5.30 most shops are open for at least another half hour. They usually open between 10 and 11 and close at 6 or 7. 10-Even the Oxfam bookshop I pass every day caught onto this last year and changed their hours so they're open until 6. Fact is, nobody's in town at 9am except people hurrying to their jobs, and the retail workers like it as they can get off-peak transport.

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

Makes so much more sense doesn’t it? We need to start a petition!

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hoochiscrazy_@reddit

It is absolutely one of the worst things about the UK in my opinion. In most of the rest of the world things are open in the evening when people are actually free.

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SmugMiddleClarse@reddit

Totally agree. I wish there were more late night cafes, shops etc.

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Defiant_Size5991@reddit

It's a real shame that so many family-friendly places shut just as the workday ends. It feels like businesses are missing a huge opportunity to cater to people who actually have the time and energy to go out.

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Deep_Top8433@reddit

Totally on your side with this, like during the week office hours are 9-5, and the shops around me are open 10-4. And then they’ll complain they don’t get enough trade and I’m like open 11-6 and then people can pop in after work!

Life would be a lot simpler if entertainment and shops were willing to stay open an extra few hours into the evenings.

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

It makes so much more sense. People would still get their free time having a later start too. I personally prefer a later start, I hate the rush in the morning.

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LavenderAndHoneybees@reddit

I'm on the opposite end where so many things around us open at 10 - we're all up and about at 7 and she's so much easier to entertain outside the house 🫠

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

Wow yeah, we are night owls.

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paulmclaughlin@reddit

Theme parks are the big one for me. They cost a fortune, rides regularly break down, and they close in the late afternoon.

Disneyland Paris: Rides finish around 11 pm and there's a firework show.

British themeparks: Close between 4pm and 6 pm.

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

It’s way too early to shut a theme park. I think more adults would enjoy a theme park closing later. It would attract a whole other audience.

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ktitten@reddit

No, it's not unreasonable, I live in a very touristy city (Edinburgh). A lot of businesses in the city centre operate shorter hours in winter, and go to long hours in the summer well into the evening. I once worked at a tourist attraction that was doing tours till 11pm!

As a result, It's much easier to visit places in the summer and go on days out. Also no Sunday trading laws in Scotland so I can go out shopping every day of the week until 7-8pm. I think this makes a difference too - if people are already out shopping in the evening they are more likely to want to go do a different activity, so more customers for businesses that might want to stay open later.

The problem is, it impacts staffing a lot just to have a few more hours open. You need to have double the bodies - it's expensive. This will be prohibitive to a lot of non-profit businesses like museums and galleries. Some make money on more adult oriented evening events where they can charge more too. I know the National Museum of Scotland shuts at 5pm primarily because they rent out spaces in the evening for large fancy events.

Theme parks I really get - I went on a school trip to Barcelona and we went to PortAventura World. One of the best experiences of that trip was wondering around a theme park in the evening and thinking - you can't do that in the UK! It really made a difference to the day and meant we didn't feel like we needed to pack in as many rides as we could in the time, as you often do in theme parks here.

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

Yeah, I hate the rush of England. Everything feels like it’s a rush. Days out are a rush to cram everything in. And as a parent now, I hate it. I want to enjoy days out casually not rushing around like a headless chicken. It only causes stress which ruins the day. When we go places that shut later, everything runs way smoother!

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Loose_Avocado4670@reddit

Theme parks shutting at 5 is crazy.

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DaftTwat@reddit

Got tickets for Legoland this week for cheap but it's open 10- 5 ffs. It's springtime!

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

I was going to book for my son’s birthday but the opening hours put me off! Spring/summer I wish places were open till at least 7/8

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Elster-@reddit

I’m with you there. It seems there are only bars and restaurants open after 5pm outside of towns. It’s why we visit out of town shopping centres and spend more time visiting in European cities than UK cities.

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

What European cities do you recommend?

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Elster-@reddit

We can get flights easily to Santander, Bordeaux, Copenhagen & Paris and have been on a few weekend trips

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ProfessorYaffle1@reddit

You are not being unreasonable to wish for it, but as with most things, there are usually practical reasons.

One issue is that opening for longer is expensive, and in most cases, it won't pay for itself right away, so the companyor business needs to be willing to incur all the cosst and hope that it pays.

And that means that it needs to tttract people who wouldn't otherwise be going. If you end up with people going on a Friday evening instead of on a Saturday morning, then the business has incurred a lot of extra costs but has no extra revenue, it's just earning the same amount over a longer period and with higher over heaeds, so it's profit goes down.

And it is likely to work best if it is not just one business but several in the same place, so that there is a late afternoon / evening culture.

I think you do see places open later in some situations - lots of the bigger London museums do have late night opening once a week, for example, and you see it in areas with lots of tourists where the cost can be justified.

The other issue of course is that of planning and amentiy for local residents. This is obviously dependent on locatioon, but there are poenttially issues with the mpact of noise, traffic, parking etc were things open later.

I *think* that the planning rules may dictate how late retial and food service places can stay open.

Lke eveyone else, there are times when I would like it if things were open later on, but I am also aware of some of the practical reasons why they don't.

I work in an ofice. Some years ago, we came under pressure to open on Saturdays, the arguament being that our clients / potential clients were mostly at work in the week and would like to be abl to book appointments etc on weekends.

So we trialled opening on Saturdays

Heaviily advertised, lots of information. And ... it turned out that mostly, people didn't, in fact, want to book appointments on saturdays, People would sometims pop in to drop stuff off, which they would have happily put through the door if we were not open, but it turned out that people mostly wanted to keep their weekends free for fun stuff.

And of course it was more expensive, we had to staff the office on Saturdays, no one wanted to give up their weekend (we only opened for a half day on the saturday, and you got a full day in lieu so you could take it the next week and make a three day waeweekend, if you wanted) still very unpopular.

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ChocolateSnowflake@reddit

Haha this is the opposite to what I see most fellow parents see!

Nothing opens until 10am and we’ve already been up since 6am and need to get out the house asap.

A soft play or play cafe that opened at 7am would do brisk business.

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Deep_Pepper_5405@reddit

My cousin "complained" that they could never attend any babygroups cause everything was so early. Everything had ended by the time her kids woke up (but she was not gonna start waking the kids up early for a toddler and tea at the local cafe).

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lookhereisay@reddit

Same! Trying to keep a toddler quiet but occupied from 5-9am was my personal hell!

Our local soft play started doing a 8am opening and it was so busy. Croissants and toast for breakfast. Mainly 0-4 year olds so no bigger kids running them over. It was bliss. It was the only soft play I’d go to.

They stopped after a few months because they didn’t want to open that early. And then complained footfall was down the rest of the time!

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tumshy@reddit

Yes! I’ve lived a thousand lifetimes and watched Moana 3 times by 10am and now everyone needs a nap.

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Deep_Banana_6521@reddit

Because keeping businesses like that open for very long periods of time isn't sustainable.

They need to concentrate as much trade into as short a window as possible, otherwise the running costs become too high. If they're open monday to friday during non-holiday periods, they can have skeleton staff to deal with the quiet periods and predict the weekends will be crazy and staff accordingly. If instead they were open longer hours all week to accommodate for customers dripping in at their leisure, they'd be spending boat loads on payroll alone, as well as the other running costs etc.

Plus you have to remember a lot of those places like cafes, parks, farms, trampoline parks etc are staffed mostly by quite young people. So to expect them to work anti-social hours so that people who work in other, more lucrative industries can feel less stressed is unreasonable.

There's things to do that aren't early doors oriented. But it's the same reason why customers at restaurants complain if they can't get eggs benedict at 8pm. It's on the breakfast menu.

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annedroiid@reddit

What does AIBU stand for?

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xxxxsteven@reddit

Yanbu

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xxxxsteven@reddit

Am I being unreasonable

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RobertTheSpruce@reddit

You are not being unreasonable to want that.

But they are also not being unreasonable to select their working hours and go home when they want to either.

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Serious_Escape_5438@reddit

Yeah I actually live in Spain now and have a kid and every time we go to the UK we find it so annoying that after 5 there's nowhere to go, she's used to doing everything later. In the summer at least you can go to the park or for a walk outdoors. Winter is much worse, even shopping centres these days seem to be mostly retail parks. But I'm assuming there isn't actually that much demand, I know a lot of families do want their kids home and eating dinner by 6.

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OutdoorApplause@reddit

I wish places were open earlier. My kid is up between 5:30 and 6 so I've lived a whole life by 10am when stuff starts opening. I need an 8am soft play to burn off her morning energy.

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

Haha fair, every family is completely different. My kids are all late risers so slow mornings work well for us. We need somewhere for everyone I guess

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OnlymyOP@reddit

No . Everyone has a right to spend time with their Family and shouldn't have to accommodate you just because you operate at a slower pace.

If you looked hard enough you'll see many places tend to stay open later in the Summer months as there is more demand for it, so maybe you just need to spend your mornings doing a little research.

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Puzzled-Lunch-6558@reddit

Jeezo, who rattled your cage? OP wasn't looking to legally mandate later opening...

Tbf, from a different perspective to OP, I've often found myself wondering why shops/attractions aren't open later. Majority of coffee shops, bakeries, shops, attractions (especially independents) are only open during "office" hours on weekdays.

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Greedy-Nature-826@reddit

Office hours for service businesses are stupid.

So many times I'll go past during the day and places are empty and I wonder why they decided it was a good idea to open when the majority of their potential client base is at work?

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Cricklewoodchick81@reddit

I second this!

I was in the midst of replying to them but......it seems they've just cut and run - oh well!

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CoconutBandita@reddit

Conversely, I often wonder, when kids are awake at 6am in summer, so many family attractions don't open until 10 or 11.

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Eukonidor_Of_Arisia@reddit

That's a fair point. You seem like the sort of family who would probably enjoy camping / caravan parks. They usually have something going on in the evening and your bed's right there.

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lilacbluewaters@reddit (OP)

To be fair we do enjoy Haven breaks as like you say there is some form of evening entertainment and activities open until later

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