The Case for Sunday Trading Hours

Sunday trading hours, despite being a restriction on the free market, perform a unique social good. They must be preserved.

By Franek Bednarski

There are certain conservative commentators who, in their modernising drive to bring our society, economy and culture up to the standards of the current age, have found a target which they are intent on vanquishing: Sunday trading hours. They argue, in their zeal, that the statutory limitation of business hours on the first day of the week is anachronistic and unnecessary, depriving employees of the liberty to choose when to work and when not to while drawing on an outdated, religious mode of thinking. I, indeed, too, I must admit, have at times been partial to such arguments, seeking to buy food, groceries, water, or even, in a more barren age, alcohol.

 My Sunday alcoholic needs have, luckily, been since copiously supplied by Port and Policy, but this is certainly not the only reason for my conversion. We live in a society, it is true, which is becoming increasingly secular: this is a fact of life. There is an argument, undoubtedly, for keeping Sunday trading hours on simply the basis of providing for a large number of people’s religious needs, making sure they are not made to work by unscrupulous employers, and this is quite possibly sufficient to stand on its own. I, however, want to make a rather broader point.

This is that, in general, it is good for a Society to have a universally recognised day where people take leave of their daily labours and commit themselves to the sweeter things in life: socialising, playing sports, being musical; perhaps even drinking port to the tune of a thousand eloquent speeches! It is true that certain employees might prefer to take their day off on another day, and there can naturally be provision for this on their other day off. Society, however, runs on a certain natural rhythm, and it is only right that this be respected.

Is it not pleasant, after all, to stroll through a park on a Sunday afternoon and see families, liberated from the necessity of work, enjoying with other people a day on which they are free to commit themselves fully to their leisure? Is such a sight not infinitely more valuable to a Society than the opening of Tesco until midnight? Humans are, innately, social creatures, and the knowledge of a day universally dedicated to the peaceful enjoyment of relaxing pursuits is one which punctuates the busy rhythm of the average person’s life.

The reformist may shake his head angrily, asking why it is that a day has been chosen which in its origin is a religious one, the choosing of which perhaps does not respect those of non-Christian faiths and the non-religious. I argue that, in a Society, especially one built to such a great extent on a religious foundation, it is not in itself an embracement of Christianity to support trading on Sundays, but rather a recognition of a tradition which comes from the socio-religious milieu from which our culture itself originated. It is not our role to ruthlessly supplant traditions, to whatever extent we may agree with their original rationale; rather, provided they are not harmful, we must keep and preserve them, keeping firmly in mind their innate usefulness.

Sunday Trading hours, whatever slight loss of liberty they may cause, are, I argue, a social good. It is imperative that we fight to preserve them.

Franek Bednarski (The Ex-Communications Director) is a first-year undergraduate reading Literae Humaniores at Jesus College.