Shops Act 1950
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1950 c. 28 |
Shops Act , 1950
(14 Geo. 6) CHAPTER 28
An Act to consolidate the Shops Acts, 1912 to 1938, and certain other enactments relating to shops.
[28th July 1950]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Hours of Closing
Early closing days
1 Closing of shops on weekly half-holiday.
(1) Every shop shall be closed for the serving of customers not later than one o'clock in the afternoon on one week day in every week.
(2) The local authority may, by order, fix the day on which a shop is to be so closed (in this Act referred to as ‘the weekly half-holiday’), and any such order may either fix the same day for all shops, or may fix—
(a ) different days for different classes of shops; or
(b ) different days for different parts of the district; or
(c ) different days for different periods of the year:
Provided that—
(i) where the day fixed is a day other than Saturday, the order shall provide for enabling Saturday to be substituted for such other day as respects any shop in which notice to that effect is affixed by the occupier;
(ii) where the day fixed is Saturday, the order shall provide for enabling some other day specified in the order to be substituted for Saturday as respects any shop in which notice to that effect is affixed by the occupier;
(iii) no order shall be made under this section unless the local authority, after making such inquiry as may be prescribed, are satisfied that the occupiers of a majority of each of the several classes of shops affected by the order approve the order.
(3) Unless and until an order is made under this section affecting a shop, the weekly half-holiday as respects the shop shall be such day as the occupier may specify in a notice affixed in the shop, but it shall not be lawful for the occupier of the shop to change the day oftener than once in any period of three months.
(4) Where the local authority have reason to believe that a majority of the occupiers of shops of any particular class in any area are in favour of being exempted from the provisions of this section, either wholly or by fixing as the closing hour instead of one o'clock some other hour not later than two o'clock, the local authority, unless they consider that the area in question is unreasonably small, shall take steps to ascertain the wishes of such occupiers.
If the local authority are satisfied that a majority of the occupiers of such shops are in favour of the exemption, or, in the case of a vote being taken, that at least one half of the votes recorded by the occupiers of shops within the area of the class in question are in favour of the exemption, the local authority shall make an order exempting the shops of that class within the area from the provisions of this section either wholly or to such extent as aforesaid.
(5) Where a shop is closed during the whole day on the occasion of a bank holiday, and that day is not the day fixed for the weekly half-holiday, it shall be lawful for the occupier of the shop to keep the shop open for the serving of customers after the hour at which it is required under this section to be closed either on the half-holiday immediately preceding, or on the half-holiday immediately succeeding, the bank holiday.
(6) This section shall not apply to any shop in which the only trade or business carried on is trade or business of any of the classes mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act, but the local authority may, by order made and revocable in the manner hereinafter provided with respect to closing orders, extend the provisions of this section to shops of any class exempted under this subsection if satisfied that the occupiers of at least two-thirds of the shops of that class approve the order.
(7) Nothing in this section shall prevent the serving of a customer at any time at which the shop is required to be closed under this section if it is proved either that the customer was in the shop before the time when the shop was required to be closed, or that there was reasonable ground for believing that the article supplied to the customer was required in the case of illness.
(8) Nothing in this section shall prevent customers from being served at a time when the shop in which they are served is required to be closed with victuals, stores, or other necessaries for a ship, on her arrival at, or immediately before her departure from, a port.
General closing hours
2 General closing hours.
(1) Every shop shall be closed for the serving of customers—
(a ) as respects the winter months, not later than half-past seven o'clock in the evening on the late day and six o'clock in the evening on any other day of the week; and
(b ) where the foregoing paragraph does not apply, not later than nine o'clock in the evening on the late day and eight o'clock in the evening on any other day of the week:
Provided that a local authority may, by order, substitute other hours (whether earlier or later) for the hours fixed by paragraph (a ) of this subsection so, however, that the substituted hours shall not be later than seven o'clock in the evening except on not more than two days (one of which shall be the late day) when the substituted hours may be not later than eight o'clock in the evening.
(2) Before making any order under the foregoing subsection the local authority shall take such steps, whether by consultation with representative associations or otherwise, as appear to the authority to be most appropriate for ascertaining the views of occupiers of shops and shop assistants affected by the order, and any such order—
(a ) may be made so as to apply to the whole or any part of the area of the local authority;
(b ) may be made so as to apply to all trades or businesses or to any specified trade or business;
(c ) may fix different hours for different days of the week and for different trades or businesses; and
(d ) may contain such incidental and supplemental provisions as appear to the local authority to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the order.
(3) Nothing in this section shall prevent—
(a ) the serving of a customer where it is proved that the customer was in the shop before the closing hour, or that reasonable grounds existed for believing that the article supplied after the closing hour to a customer was required in the case of illness; or
(b ) any transaction mentioned in the Second Schedule to this Act.
(4) In this Act the expression ‘the winter months’ means the period beginning with the first Sunday in November in any year and ending with the day before the first Sunday in March in the succeeding year.
3 The late day.
3. The late day referred to in the last foregoing section shall be Saturday unless the local authority by order fix some other day as the late day, and any such order may fix the same day for all shops or may fix—
Provided that where the local authority have under this Act fixed any day as the weekly half-holiday for any class of shop, or for any part of their area, or for any period of the year, they shall, as respects that class, part or period, fix some other day as the late day.
4 Special provision for tobacco and smokers' requisites.
4. As respects the trade or business of selling tobacco and smokers' requisites—
5 Special provision for newspapers and periodicals.
5. As respects the trade or business of selling newspapers and periodicals, paragraph (a ) of, and the proviso to, subsection (1) of section two of this Act and subsection (2) of that section shall not apply.
6 Special provision for confectionery.
6. As respects the trade or business of selling table waters, sweets, chocolates or other sugar confectionery or ice cream, the following hours shall be substituted for those set out in subsection (1) of section two of this Act, that is to say—
Provided that a local authority may in their area or any part thereof by order substitute for either of the hours mentioned in paragraph (b ) of this subsection an earlier hour, not being earlier than eight o'clock in...
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