What exactly is a bank holiday?

Posted by GreySofa1234@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 58 comments

I came from a different country where there is 'public holiday'. Christmas is a public holiday. Local festivals are public holiday. There is no other types of holidays. On a public holiday, most small businesses are shut. The large ones that are open operate Sunday opening hours. Public transport operate Sunday timetables. Schools from kindergarten to un*versity have no classes.

I have now lived in the UK for a while now but I still don't know what exactly a bank holiday is. It seems to be there are two tiers of holidays. For example, Christmas (25th and 26th), New Year (P.S. I am based in Scotland so the 2nd as well) and Easter, these are proper holidays. Everything is shut.

However, on the bank holidays (e.g., Early May, Spring, Summer bank holidays), apart from banks (obviously) and government offices, it seems like it's up to everyone to decide whether they want to work or not. Some small businesses are open, some are closed. Shops and public transport operate normally. Parking hours operate as usual. I am in un*versity and most classes are running as normal. GP are shut but NHS works normally. Some people go to work, some people are on holiday.

I am so confused. Can someone finally explain clearly what exactly a bank holiday is and how it works please?

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NoEnthusiasm2@reddit

They are public holidays but it is mostly only office workers that get to enjoy them.

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Alone_Consideration6@reddit

Plenty of factories, builders and physical types don’t have work on public holidays. It’s basically anyone who only works Monday to Friday.

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Who_Knows_M3@reddit

Well not anyone. My partners a mon-fri factory worker and has to work bank hols. All down to the companies

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smellyfeet25@reddit

IT DOES depend on the company or sometimes you can take it off but don't get paid

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CptCave1@reddit

Office worker here, the office is full. From experience most people don't take these may bank holidays in Scotland.

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Love-tea@reddit

I’ve got collegues in Scotland who get to choose the bank holidays. Cos Scotland have some that England and Wales don’t as far as I know. So they take bank holidays off that I don’t have off being in Wales.

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Jenpot@reddit

I'm in Scotland and I'm off! My sister gets the one at the end of May instead and my husband just gets bank hols added to his holiday entitlement. Seems to vary wildly.

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notouttolunch@reddit

There is very little to enjoy about them. Everywhere except the banks are rammed.

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Beartato4772@reddit

I can choose when I take my bank holidays, it's great. I virtually never take them on bank holidays.

AirlineSevere7456@reddit

Traditionally it was only banks that closed on those days.

budgiebirdman@reddit

Why did you put an asterisk in university and what university are you at that is teaching on a Bank Holiday?

SquashedByAHalo@reddit

Why is no one else mentioning the asterisk in university??

glasgowgeg@reddit

Read the rules, uni/education is a banned topic under Rule 2.

OP is doing it to evade automod removing their post.

hhfugrr3@reddit

Thanks, I also didn't know that - but now I'm wondering why is education a banned topic?

Banned topics are pretty much all under the recommendation you go to a "more specialised subreddit".

Ahh yeah that makes sense. Thanks.

Thanks. You can see I've never read the rules.

Intelligent_Mine_121@reddit

When I was studying (20 years ago) my university always had teaching on bank holidays that fell in terms time. Practically this only affected the May Day holiday but I had lectures on Monday every single year of my course.

Big_Miss_Steak_@reddit

I discovered last week that my friend’s kid still had school today!!! Apparently because they have boarders, they just decided that bank holidays don’t exist.

I honestly thought she was pulling my leg but today I was actually driving over to pick up my other mate who lives near the school in question and I saw a poor kid in uniform walking to school.

Uni/education is a banned topic under Rule 2, OP will have done it to evade automod.

frankbowles1962@reddit

Bank holiday is an obsolete term. There are official public holidays where public sector organisations close and others can follow if they choose. Scotland is more confusing as different local authorities have (some) differences in public holidays to each other and to England.

Kiss_It_Goodbyeee@reddit

Being in Scotland will add to the confusion. In England, bank holidays are almost universally followed by public and private businesses. In Scotland, that's not the case and TBH I don't really follow why.

In Scotland, there seems to be a focus on (local) public holidays, which sometimes align with bank holidays, rather than the UK bank holidays.

V65Pilot@reddit

I'll add to the confusion.... while living in the US, I saw that banks had been restricted in the number of days they were allowed to close in a row. This led to most banks having saturday hours, so they could close on a friday or monday of a bank holiday weekend. Except..... I banked with a Credit Union, which didn't have to follow the rules that banks did, because it wasn't a "bank"..... Doesn't help you, but it's something I found interesting.

Routine_Ad1823@reddit

I should also say that Bank Holidays are always on a Monday or Friday, and if they fall on a weekend then the holiday gets moved to the nearest Monday or Friday.

Having lived in a country where you randomly get public holidays in the middle of the week I think I prefer our system because you always get a long weekend.

squirrelbo1@reddit

What universities are open as normal on a bank holiday ? We might have the library with a skeleton staff and obviously security are working but nobody is doing any teaching and all our researchers will be under lone working arrangements if they are in labs etc.

Mammoth-Passion-413@reddit

I think it was when Banks closed so back then most shops did too as people wouldn't get money out? Honeslty that's my answer and I am probably 100% wrong

Bitter_Tradition_938@reddit

You’re right.

Geezer-McGeezer@reddit

You are right !

3a5ty@reddit

Which bit, the bank bit or being wrong bit?

ldn-ldn@reddit

Yes.

Good question.

lemonsqueezy55@reddit

Just to add to this as you've said you are in Scotland, Bank Holidays are different up here. They aren't necessarily public holidays, as they are set by local authorities, and can be different depending on what council area you are in. Edinburgh can be different to Fife, which can be different to West Lothian

Competitive-Proof410@reddit

The NHS isn't working as normal. They're running a weekend service. Less physios, less pharmacists, less radiographers, no outpatients and ward Drs at weekend staffing which is different from weekday

Bgtobgfu@reddit

It just means the same as public holiday, it’s just a different word.

atomic_mermaid@reddit

Why are you censoring university?

Puzzled-Pain5297@reddit

it's known as double bubble for much less trouble in my job, double pay and 90 % quieter, just gotta pray it falls on your work rotation/ shift pattern here. I was a winner today.....the next one in 3 weeks .....I didn't win :(

ukbot-nicolabot@reddit

A top level comment (one that is not a reply) should be a good faith and genuine attempt to answer the question

kellymacc@reddit

Living-Bat7647@reddit

I can't believe you'd just say it like that!

But yes I also wonder...

GreySofa1234@reddit (OP)

Because the AskUK mod decides that anything that contains "university" is better asked in other places so the post will be removed by bots. It's ridiculous but I don't set the rules... Also applies to GPs (with an s), so I have to type just "GP".

Ah, yeah, one of those. Thank you for explaining.

Soggy_Detective_4737@reddit

It started about 120 years ago. Before then, businesses would often close for the day according to local custom. A guy came up with the idea of regulating it because it was kind of a pain to roll up and find backs closed at random. It just made it that everyone knew when it would happen.

shopguy2k@reddit

Slow-Kale-8629@reddit

Christmas Day and Easter Sunday have specific regulations in English law saying that large shops can't open (but small shops can trade all day if they want).

Other than that, shops are free to open whatever hours they like on any bank holiday, and employers are free to employ people (or not) on any bank holiday.

So nearly all the behaviour you see is just driven by custom. Schools are often off on bank holidays, and people with office jobs mostly get bank holidays off. On the other hand, because so many people are off school and work, some shops like to open because it's a good day for trade. Some shops like to shut so that staff can spend time with their family. Like you say, it's up to everyone to decide.

IamTory@reddit

The only bank holidays schools get in England are the early May one and Good Friday if it falls at the end of term instead of the middle of the holiday. All the others are during school holidays anyway.

The early May bank holiday is a real treat for school staff because it's the only one we actually consistently get! (Yes, I know. We have loads of holiday. Understandable. But it still feels nice to share the "holiday weekend yaaaay" feeling with everyone else.)

LandofGreenGinger62@reddit

Ah, you see OP, this is not a UK thing so much, where the difference between England and Scotland kicks in...

Bank holidays were originally (in Victorian times) set up by law to give public service people designated days off when the banks would be closed so no point in doing business (they used to have to work Christmas Day n all sorts, see Dickens 'Christmas Carol'), so these were set up as public holidays.

So in England official stuff all closes, but it's up to commercial businesses whether they do or not, but most big offices close, shops not so much.

But when we moved to Scotland, where they have both Bank Holidays and Public Holidays, which are different, and random, I'm guessing decided by the Moderator of the Church of Scotland (and he only by bcommunication with God).

And I was intrigued to see how little attention was paid to Bank Hols (see yon English nonsense) — where banks and government stuff will be closed, but almost nothing else will — as opposed to Public hols, which banks n govt stuff may or may not close for, but everything else does. Or used to anyway (when I first came here in the 90s), but these days we're all capitalists, so not so much.

Clear now..?? 😆

EasyCheesecake1@reddit

Before online banking and ATMs banks were really important, imagine Everytime you spend the money in your wallet you have to go to the bank or you run a business and have to take the cash to the bank each day. So public holidays got called bank holidays, business holidays might have been just as apt a term.

DarkLordTofer@reddit

It is literally because the act that created them is called the Bank Holiday Act. Without the banks being open nobody else could get any commerce done. My History teacher claimed it was because the guy who brought the act in was int cricket and wanted to give Bank and office staff the chance to play in local cricket games. Personally I think people just played cricket because in the 1880s there was fuck all else to do, and the act was just to standardise the holidays as previously there could be local holidays and it was all a bit too customary for the regulated Victorian mind.

Ok_Cupcake_5153@reddit

It was because, as others have said, the Banks were closed.
As most business transactions used to be done in cash, if the banks were closed so were businesses as there was no way pay to “bank” their takings or get cash out.
Any business trading that day would basically be saying “I have cash, come rob me” so it was more sensible to also close.
And everyone got a holiday.

sk8ergrandma@reddit

Someone has already answered what a bank holiday is so ill just explain why some bank holidays are different from others.

The way I understand it, on bank holidays like the may bank holidays, people take advantage of the extra day off of work to go out and do things. Small businesses like cafes and shops would be advantaged by the extra footfall so it wouldn't make sense to close. Bank holidays like Christmas day, people are broadly speaking more likely to stay at home, so there wouldn't be as much benefit to staying open.

shanna811@reddit

It’s called called a bank holiday because originally the banks were legally required to close it was introduced as a Bank Holiday act is 1871. It was basically to give the people who worked in banks a day off without creating an issue with payments as it legally meant transactions didn’t have to happen until the next day. Bank employees didn’t get paid holidays until then.

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