In all the local supermarkets and shops (clothes, mobile phone, PC, etc...) there is a 6 hour trading limit on SUndays where they are limited to 6 consecutive hours of trading.

However, my local Coop is open from around 10am to 10pm on Sunday.

Is there some kind of separate law governing the Coop or is there a loophole it has found?

I can't imagine it's doing it illegally.

10am to 1pm is only 3 hours?

But no, convenience stores aren't restricted in the same way.

did I miss something ,10 till 1 is 3 hours

My local co-op is open 6am - 11pm 7 days a week.

There's a Co-op near me with similar hours, it even recently offered a free card-cloning service (allegedly) .

Corrected

I meant 10 - 10.

At least something like that, definitely more than 6 hours anyway.

It has something to do with the amount of floorspace.

I think petrol stations and small cornershops are exempt.

I personally think it's an outdated rule and shops should be open 24/7.

Don't happen to have a cosy Monday-Friday 9-5 job do you?

I don't have a "cosy 9-5" but I agree that Sunday trading laws should be gotten rid of.

24 hour shopping ftw.

I am in favour of leaving the laws as they are. I have two local mini marts open on Sundays, and if the big stores could stay open 24 hours then they an all the small local stores would suffer. They simply cannot open 7 days a week.

Sunday Trading in England and Wales s regulated by the Sunday Trading Act 1994 [clickey] and also by special provision around Christmas and Easter.

Small shops, those with up to 280 sq m of floor space, are exempt from the limited opening times imposed by the act. Larger premises are not.

Different rules apply in Scotland (where there doesn't appear to be any formal limit on Sunday opening other than alcohol licensing) and Northern Ireland (which I'm not sure about).

Personally, I'm totally in favour of a relaxation on the limit on opening times for shops in England and Wales. The extended hours in Scotland work perfectly well and have done for years. Workers have protection from being forced to work Sundays under the Employment Rights Act 1996 unless specifically employed to work on Sundays.

I say let the stores stay open whenever they want, though Amnesia10 makes a good point about the bigger stores effectively killing off the competition. They've been pretty efficient at that already, though often at the customer's benefit in some regards.

If opening hours are extended on Sundays then that will be the start of the slippery slope towards normalising working on Sundays. I can envisage people losing out on jobs on account of not wanting to work Sundays. This would be unacceptable.

You'd also have to consider the knock-on effect for small businesses.

TBH I wouldn't be averse to the German position - or at least forcing all large stores to close on Sunday.

I suspect that was doen when sunday opening was allowed at all ................

Agreed

Agreed. How do you Define large though?