Early Closing - Does it still exist?


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I bet most Nottstalgians remember in their younger days there was one afternoon a week when the shops didn't open.

When I was a kid, it still operated in most areas outside of city centres. On Clifton it was Wednesday afternoon, so all the shops were closed from 12 on a Wednesday - apart from the newsagent which opened again later in the day for evening papers.

My dad used to work as a pharmacist in chemist shops, and all the places he worked had early closing on Thursday, so in his entire working life he never worked on a Thursday afternoon.

And Sundays……..the shops on Clifton didn't open at all on Sundays, apart from newsagents who opened in the morning - and then perhaps again in the mid afternoon from about 2-5 for ice-cream and sweets.

Are there any places in the country now where early closing still operates; where the world comes to a stop on a Wednesday afternoon?

Seems amazing now, how many hours a week shops weren't open

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Earlier than you mention it was always Thursday half day, I never noticed when it changed to Wednesday. nothing much was open on Sunday, now I can go down the local supermarket any time before ten at night. Still don't understand the Sunday trading Laws where you can shop but not pay untill 11am, Bonkers!!.

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when i work at little woolworths on hockley we always closed at lunch time on a thursday 1 pm as did a lot of the shops on hockleyat the time and if the guy i was going out with at the time who worked at the george hotel was on mornings or nights we would often go out for a drive in his car that afternoon or on nice afternoons i would go to the local recs with my young nephew and nieces and often the kids next door too if they where too young or off school you would see be walking down cavendish rd with as many as 12 kids taking them to play for an hour or two, i would get som funny looks from people ging up and down the the rd when they saw me with so many small kids in tow. i would sometime have four in the pram two small babies and two young todlers under 18 months old twor or even four small children on riegns as well as the older ones walking beside the pram .a lot of resposibility but i used to enjoy seeing them play and running about and in allthe times i did this never did one of the kids have a accident above a odd little fall over. on cold day i could usually be found up in my bedroom reading.or having a sleep before having my dinner a bathe changed and off out for the nights dancing.

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when we go up to ilkeston or sutton in ashfield some of the smaller order shops still close on a wednessday or a thursday afternoons.

oh and i forgot to say also when i worked at woolworths we got every 4th thursday off all day and 1 in 4 saterdays off on a rota system so there were still able to open but with fewer staff on a thursday and we had saturday girls to cover on saturdays .

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Over here in Bramcote it was a Wednesday pm. But I think Beeston was a Thursday......Post offices still have a half day on a Saturday....

You are right Hippo Girl, Beeston was half-day on Thursdays.

Wollaton Post Office still closes Wednesday afternoons.

Even my doctor does not take appointments on Thursdays PM.

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I remember early closing as being on a Thursday; shops closed at one. Nobody about - everywhere was so quiet. Me, being young thought Thursday afternoons boring, now I'm not so sure!

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Earlier than you mention it was always Thursday half day, I never noticed when it changed to Wednesday. nothing much was open on Sunday, now I can go down the local supermarket any time before ten at night. Still don't understand the Sunday trading Laws where you can shop but not pay untill 11am, Bonkers!!.

The restrictions were brought in to curb the greed of the big boys and protect small businesses.Sunday trading 10 till 4 if the shop was over 3000 sq ft.So what did they do?...they opened thousands of smaller shops to avoid the law.

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Thursday was half-day in Long Eaton and most of the "branch" Co-op stores were only open until 2:00pm on Saturday - closed on Sunday of course! The "main" Co-op store "downtown" stayed open until about 6:00pm on Saturdays. All the stores stayed open until 7:00pm on Fridays - late shopping!

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I have a 1957-58 AA members handbook which quotes early closing days for all the places listed in the gazeteer. It also gives last postal times - Nottingham 6.30 [i.e. 18.30] - SEVEN DAYS A WEEK! Licensing hours - weekdays 10.30-2.20; 6.00-10.00; Sundays 12.00-2.00; 7.00-10.00. OK lets go a bit further - Black Boy, Long Row (3 star) (Tel : 41531) 95 rooms, Bed and Breakfast 25/- to 33/-, Lunch from 7/-, Dinner from 8/-, Weekly "en pension" terms 13-15 guineas.

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I can remember the pubs closing every day at 2.30 ;)

I'd forgotten about pubs doing the early closing thing in the afternoons.

And it's only as recent as the late 1980s that pubs in the city centre used to close at 10.30pm

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Remember that period when the pubs in town closed at 10.30pm and you could shoot off to the suburbs for a quick pint before 11pm?

Also remember Yates used to close very early on a Sunday night - earlier than everywhere else's 10.30pm. I asked why in there once - 'because the Yates brothers are very religious'!

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In the mid 60s i worked at the George Hotel and then Yates', i worked downstairs in the St James restaurant, we even sold draught champagne at two and six a glass. One perk of the job was to get the complimentary cinema tickets the place recieved for advertising the cinema, the only people in the cinemas in the afternoons would be hotel and bar staff killing time before re-opening time, the only draw back was that you mostly had to leave before the main film finished, having said that, a lot of the time you were'nt particularly interested in the film anyway.

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Earlier than you mention it was always Thursday half day, I never noticed when it changed to Wednesday. nothing much was open on Sunday, now I can go down the local supermarket any time before ten at night. Still don't understand the Sunday trading Laws where you can shop but not pay untill 11am, Bonkers!!.

I don't understand the Sunday trading laws that state you can buy a pornographic magazine as it's a periodical, but you can't (Legally) buy a Bible !

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IMMSC it was Wednesday half day in Carlton and Netherfield too.

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beach bum i worked little woolworths 1967to 1968 the guy i went outwith from the georgewas called pat he was a porter and drove a green jaguar cardont know if he was there when you were there

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I'd forgotten about pubs doing the early closing thing in the afternoons.

And it's only as recent as the late 1980s that pubs in the city centre used to close at 10.30pm

One of the joys of travel in those"far off" days was going about the country & finding a pub that was allowed to stay open longer in the afternoon or open earlier in the morning usually on market days

On certain days in the Stratford area of London you could drink from 5.30A.M. till the aerly hours of the following da,.

not that I did but you could get a pint whenever you wanted one.

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If you went to the "Covent Garden" area of London in the late 70's/ early 80's when it was still the "Fruit and Veg" market, and moved around the pubs a bit, and thanks to various 'market licenses' you could drink for 24 hrs a day , (Not that we tried either............ slywink )

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