Friday 10 January 2025 12:27 pm | Updated: Wednesday 22 January 2025 9:33 am

Extra bank holiday 2025: Hospitality industry slams Number 10 decision

Features Journalist

Bank holidays 2025: Number 10 has announced the additional day off has been canned

It had been rumoured that an additional bank holiday would make its way onto the calendar for 2025 to earmark the end of WWII, but Number 10 has announced that the extra day off won’t be going ahead.

UK hospitality bodies have slammed the government’s decision to can the extra bank holiday. Restaurant and bar groups say that bank holidays provide an extra financial boost to the hospitality sector.

Their messages echo calls made in 2022 to make the additional bank holiday for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee a permanent new addition to the calendar (pleas that were ultimately not met).

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Martin Williams, formerly of M Restaurants and the Gaucho group, criticised the canned extra 2025 bank holiday as “a lost opportunity.”

He said: “An extra bank holiday would bring a much needed boost to the hospitality sector in the face of the additional headwinds resulting from April’s punitive budget. Local Pubs and independent restaurants would have seen a great benefit- a lost opportunity.”

And a UKHospitality spokesperson told Morning Wire: “Bank holidays are always occasions when Brits choose to visit a local pub, have a meal out or plan a long weekend, and this inevitably provides a boost to hospitality businesses. At a time when the sector is struggling with increasing costs at every turn, bank holidays and other times of high demand, like Easter and summer holidays, will have greater importance placed on them to deliver a boost in sales.”

And a spokesperson from the Campaign For Real Ale added: “Bank holidays represent brilliant opportunities for the beer and pub industry. They provide an extra day of support for pubs, social clubs and taprooms who are looking to improve trade.

“The pub trade continues to struggle with financial challenges, including high energy bills and costs continuing to rise. CAMRA’s data shows that pub businesses have a higher rate of churn than ever before and still face a serious decline in the number of licensees able to stay in business in the UK.

“Pubs are crucial for community cohesion, providing welcoming spaces for social interaction and helping to combat isolation. They remain at the heart of our communities and bank holidays provide a fantastic occasion for people to come together down at their local pub and enjoy a pint of cask ale or real cider with friends and family.”

There is a high cost to putting on extra bank holidays, where most of the private sector shuts down for an additional working day. Research showed that an additional bank holiday may cost around £2.4 billion to the UK economy.

A spokesperson for Number 10 said: “The 80th anniversaries of VE and VJ Day will be moments of huge significance for our country where we will come together to honour the memory of those who served, the legacy they left behind and what we owed them.

“We are committed to commemorating these nationally important occasions appropriately, which is we have announced more than £10 million for events to mark them.

“These plans do not include an additional bank holiday but we will look to use the existing early May bank holiday for commemorative events.”