The Sunday opening limits below apply in England and Wales. They cover large shops only: a small shop can open at any hour on any day.
Work out whether your shop is a large shop
A shop is large if its relevant floor area is over 280 square metres. That is the internal floor area of the building, leaving out only parts that, throughout the week ending with the Sunday in question, are used neither to serve customers nor to display goods. Closing off part of the shop on Sundays does not take it out of the count.
Meals, refreshments and alcohol sold for consumption on the premises do not count as sales of goods.
Open only in the permitted hours
A large shop can open on a Sunday for one continuous period of up to six hours, starting no earlier than 10am and ending no later than 6pm. You choose the six hours. A large shop must not open on Easter Sunday, and must not open on Christmas Day whichever day of the week it falls.
Display a notice of your Sunday opening hours in a conspicuous place both inside and outside the shop. Failing to do so is an offence with a fine of up to £500 (level 2).
It is a defence if you served a customer after your permitted hours only because the customer was already in the shop before closing time and left within half an hour of it.
Your council can also designate a loading control area. In one, a large shop open on a Sunday needs the council's consent to load or unload goods from a vehicle before 9am that day. The council must grant consent unless the activity has caused, or would be likely to cause, undue annoyance to local residents, and must decide within 21 days.
Check whether an exemption applies
Shops wholly or mainly selling motor or cycle supplies and accessories, shops supplying only food, stores or necessaries to vessels and aircraft arriving at or leaving a port, harbour or airport, and stands at an exhibition are also exempt. A large shop whose Jewish occupier has notified the council that it stays closed on the Jewish Sabbath is not subject to the six-hour limit either.
For farm shops, off-licences and motor and cycle supply shops, regard is had to what the shop mainly sells on weekdays as well as on Sunday.
Know the penalty
Respect your staff's right to opt out of Sunday work
Legal basis
Primary legislation and key regulations