<P> The Sunday Trading Act 1994 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom governing the right of shops in England and Wales to trade on a Sunday . Buying and selling on Sunday had previously been illegal, with exceptions, under the Shops Act 1950 . </P> <P> Following the defeat of the Shops Bill 1986, which would have enabled widespread Sunday trading, compromise legislation was introduced in July 1994 in England and Wales, coming into force on 26 August 1994, allowing shops to open, but restricting opening times of larger stores i.e. those over 280 m (3,000 sq ft) to a maximum of six hours, between 10am and 6pm only . Large retail park shops usually open 11am - 5pm, with supermarkets more usually choosing 10am - 4pm . In central London, for example on Oxford Street, many shops choose to open from midday to 6pm . This includes large 24 - hour supermarkets, which meant that supermarkets have to close on Saturday night to allow six continuous hour shopping within an allotted time . </P> <P> However, some of the stores open half an hour earlier to allow people to "browse", but do not allow sales before the allotted time . Deliveries to the large stores are not permitted to be loaded or unloaded before 9am . Large shops were excluded from opening on Easter Sunday and Christmas Day (when it fell on a Sunday), but the Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004 made it illegal for large shops to open on Christmas Day whichever day of the week it fell on . </P> <P> Shops in Scotland, where Sunday trading had always been generally unregulated, retained the right to open at any time . However the right for workers in Scotland to refuse to work on a Sunday was later conferred by the Sunday Working (Scotland) Act 2003 . Northern Ireland has separate laws governing Sunday opening . </P>

When were shops allowed to open on a sunday