Push to introduce longer shopping hours on Sundays in London
Key Points
- New West End Company has called for longer Sunday shopping hours in London's West End in a new report produced with Colliers.
- 85% of West End visitors surveyed said more flexible Sunday hours would encourage more frequent visits.
- The Sunday Trading Act 1994 limits large shops in England and Wales to six hours' trading between 10am and 6pm; attempts to relax it have repeatedly stalled, most notably in 2016.
- The government has not confirmed whether it will review the legislation.
The New West End Company has called for longer Sunday shopping hours in London.
The proposal appears in Unlocking the London Advantage, the West End business group’s new report with property consultancy Colliers, which recommends a review of shopping-hour restrictions in what it calls the West End International Centre.
The group notes that 85% of West End visitors surveyed told it that more flexible hours on a Sunday, when trading is currently restricted, would encourage them to visit the district more often.
The figure draws on the New West End Company Consumer Insights Programme, based on 1,054 face-to-face interviews conducted across ten West End locations in November and December 2025, in five languages.
The Sunday Trading Act 1994 restricts large shops, those with a floor area over 280 square metres, to a continuous six-hour trading period between 10am and 6pm in England and Wales.
Smaller shops are not affected and can open without time limits. Most large stores currently trade between 10am and 4pm or 11am and 5pm on Sundays.
Efforts to relax the rules have repeatedly stalled. In 2016, the then government’s plan to allow large shops in England and Wales to open longer was defeated in the House of Commons by 317 votes to 286, after Conservative rebels joined Labour and the SNP in opposition.
The Open Sundays campaign last year urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves to back a Sunday Trading (Modernisation) Bill, proposing pilot schemes ahead of possible nationwide implementation by Easter 2026.
The shopworkers’ union Usdaw has opposed previous relaxations, arguing that retailers could fund extended hours by cutting wages, including premium Sunday pay. Some retailers with smaller convenience stores, which are unaffected by the restrictions, have also resisted reform.
The report sets London’s rules against those of competitor cities.
It says flagship districts in Tokyo open until 9pm or later seven days a week, Dubai’s malls trade until midnight, and Paris operates designated tourist zones with extended Sunday and evening hours. It describes London’s restrictions as an outlier for a city of its global significance.
Unlocking the London Advantage ranks London last of thirteen global cities on policy competitiveness, the only category in which it does not finish in the top six.
Alongside Sunday hours, the report calls for the introduction of a tax-free shopping incentive for international visitors and reform of business rates.
It says the West End generated nearly £9 billion in turnover in 2025, with international visitation to the district growing 11.8% even as London’s overall inbound numbers fell.
The New West End Company said it is investing £60 million in the West End between 2026 and 2031.
