The sale of goods from retail premises is
governed by the Sunday Trading Act 1994. This Act restricts certain
large shops from opening for sale to a maximum of 6 hours between
10am and 6pm. It is up to the owners of those shops to which the
Act applies to decide what their opening hours are and since
February 2004 there is no requirement for owners to notify the
Local Authority what hours they have decided on (this requirement
was removed by a Regulatory Reform Order in 2003, in order to
reduce red tape for retailers).
A large shop is a retail shop with an internal
sales area of at least 280 square metres (approximately 3000 square
feet). Store rooms, staff facilities and external displays are
excluded and a large shop cannot become a small shop on a Sunday by
reducing its sales area.
The following shops are excluded from
control:
- Farms Shops (selling mainly their own
produce)
- Off Licences
- Motor and Bike Supplies and Accessory
retailers
- Pharmacies
- Shops at Airports, Railway Stations and
Motorway Services and most shops at Ports
- Petrol Filling Stations
- Stands at Exhibitions
The Food, Health and Safety Team of the
Council's Environmental Services Section enforce the legislation
and will investigate breaches of the legislation and
complaints.
For Further Information and Advice:
Further advice see
Sunday
Trading Legislation Quick Facts on the Department for
Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) website.
- Contact: Food, Health and
Safety Team, Mansion House, Penrith
- Telephone: (01768) 212491
- Email:
env.health@eden.gov.uk
- Fax: (01768) 890732
