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The shops will be allowed to trade 24 hours a day during Christmas as the main street tries to recoup some of the losses suffered during the pandemic, a cabinet minister said.
Retailers typically have to go through a long and slow process to submit an application to local authorities under the Urban and Rural Planning Act if they want to extend the hours out of the window from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said he wanted to eliminate red tape to encourage more commerce, allowing stores to open 24 hours in December and January.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said: “With these changes, local stores can open longer, ensuring more enjoyable and safe shopping with less pressure on public transportation.
“How long will be a matter of choice for traders and at the discretion of the council, but I suggest that we offer these struggling entrepreneurs and businesses as much flexibility as possible this holiday season.
“As a local government secretary, I am relaxing planning restrictions and issuing an unequivocal request to city councils to allow companies to welcome us into their glittering tents late into the night and beyond.”
It comes after Jenrick suggested that some areas could be moved down when the first 14-day review of the latest tiered local controls system takes place in mid-December.
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A record number of stores closed during the first half of 2020 due to the coronavirus lockdown, according to an investigation by Local Data Company and the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
A total of 11,000 chain operator outlets closed between January and August this year, while around 5,000 stores opened, leaving a net decrease of 6,000 stores, almost double the drop during the same period last year.
Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia group, which runs the Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton brands, has been revealed to be on the brink of collapse with around 15,000 jobs at risk.
Opening hours could be extended as store workers have said how they have faced abuse and threats during the pandemic.
They have shared their stories in a new video as part of the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner’s #KeepingChristmasKind campaign.
Sammie, 32, has worked for the Co-op for 13 years and says violence and antisocial behavior have skyrocketed during the year of COVID-19.
She said: “Some shoppers seem to blame us, the store worker, and take it out on us if they have to follow government guidance and social distance.
“We never know when they are going to attack us, and that affects us mentally. It affects their family life and their mental well-being.”
As part of the campaign, stores are being helped to automatically send all abuse and assault records to the police so that the scale of the problem can be better measured.
