Public Holidays (Bank Holidays)

One question many people ask us is whether Good Friday is a bank holiday.

Since the early nineteenth century, before the introduction of bank holidays, Good Friday and Christmas Day were the only two days of leisure which were almost universally granted to working people. They are known as common law holidays.

Later in the century more public holiday were introduced by the Bank Holidays Act of 1871. The act designated four public holidays in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and five in Scotland.

England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Easter Monday,
The first Monday in August (later changed to the last Monday),
Boxing Day (26th December),
and Whit Monday

Scotland
New Year’s Day,
Good Friday,
The first Monday in May,
The first Monday in August,
Christmas Day

1971 – Whit Monday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (which could fall anywhere between 11 May and 14 June) was formally replaced by a fixed spring holiday on the last Monday in May.
The last Monday in August was formally made a bank holiday in place of the first Monday in August in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

1903 – St Patrick’s Day (17 March) became a bank holiday for Ireland only.

1973 – 2 January became an additional bank holiday in Scotland

1974 – New Year’s Day became an additional bank holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and Boxing Day became an additional bank holiday in Scotland.

1978 – the first Monday in May in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the last Monday in May in Scotland, became additional bank holidays.