Sir, – Belfast City Council is once again looking at extending opening hours for shops on Sundays. It is hard to see what problem this is meant to solve.
People already have six full days to do their shopping, along with a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. That has worked perfectly well for years. The idea that Belfast somehow needs longer Sunday hours to function just doesn’t ring true.
What does concern me is the impact on retail workers. Those in the sector already give up a lot of their weekends, along with evenings and holidays. It’s easy to talk about “convenience”, but that convenience usually comes at someone else’s expense. Extending Sunday hours would simply mean even less time off for people who already get very little.
There’s also a wider point. Sunday is still, for many, a different kind of day – whether that’s for church, family time or just a chance to slow down. Not everything has to be available all the time.
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I’ve never been convinced longer opening hours create any extra spending anyway. People don’t suddenly have more money because shops are open longer – they just spread it out. The only real difference is that staff are expected to work more.
The current system strikes a fair balance. It gives people access to shops while still recognising that workers deserve some protected time. There’s no good reason to upset that. – Yours, etc,
WILLIAM J CRAIG,
Belfast.
