Easter opening hours for UK pubs

Last updated: 12 April 2026

Most UK pub landlords assume Easter opening hours are straightforward — they’re not, and that confusion costs money. Easter involves two separate bank holidays with different rules depending on your premises licence conditions, your pubco agreement (if you’re tied), and whether you’re running food, entertainment, or just wet sales. I’ve managed 17 staff across multiple trading scenarios at Teal Farm Pub in Washington, Tyne & Wear, and Easter week trading — especially the bank holiday periods — requires specific planning that goes beyond just checking the calendar.

The real issue isn’t knowing when the holidays are; it’s understanding your legal obligations, customer expectations, and how to staff and stock for peak trading without overspending. This guide covers what you actually need to do, not the generic platitudes most hospitality websites serve up.

Easter Bank Holiday Dates and Opening Rules

In 2026, Good Friday falls on 3 April and Easter Monday on 6 April. Good Friday and Easter Monday are statutory bank holidays in the UK. Easter Sunday (5 April) is not a bank holiday — it’s a normal Sunday, which matters legally and operationally.

The key principle: you have the right to choose whether to open or close on Good Friday and Easter Monday, but your decision must align with your premises licence conditions and any pubco tenancy agreement. There is no legal requirement to open.

However, the practical reality is different. In most towns and cities across the UK, customers expect pubs to be open during Easter week. Closing without clear advance notice damages reputation and costs regulars who’ll use a competing venue instead. Over a five-day period, that’s significant lost trade.

Here’s what to check before deciding your Easter opening hours:

• Your premises licence conditions: Some licensed premises have specific operating requirements or restrictions tied to the licence. Check the exact wording on your council’s licensing register online.
• Your pubco agreement (if tied): If you’re a tenanted pub, your agreement may require you to open during peak trading periods or to follow a standard opening pattern. Some pubcos are explicit about Easter; others leave it ambiguous.
• Your customer base: Pubs in seaside towns, tourist areas, or village centres will see very different Easter traffic from urban city-centre pubs. Know your market.
• Your wet vs food mix: A food-led gastro pub may need different Easter hours than a wet-led local. Food service takes more planning.

Most independent and large pubco-tied pubs in the UK open on Good Friday and Easter Monday. Closing completely is rare unless your premises licence explicitly permits it or your customer base doesn’t support it.

Your Legal Opening Obligations on Easter

You are not legally compelled to open on Good Friday or Easter Monday under general licensing law. However, contract law (your pubco agreement), premises licence conditions, and employment law (staff contracts) may create obligations you didn’t realise.

Check these three documents now:

1. Premises Licence Conditions

Your premises licence conditions are the legal document issued by your local authority. Some licences include conditions like “the premises shall be open to the public during the following hours” with no exemptions for bank holidays. Others are silent on bank holidays, giving you flexibility. Download your licence from your council’s website or contact your licensing officer.

2. Pubco Tenancy Agreement

If you’re a tied pub tenant, your agreement typically requires you to open during certain hours or to follow “trading patterns consistent with comparable premises” operated by the pubco. During Easter, this often translates to: “open the same hours as other similar pubs in the group.” Check your agreement’s definition of standard opening hours and whether bank holidays are explicitly addressed. If ambiguous, ask your pubco BDM (Business Development Manager) for written clarification before Easter.

3. Staff Contracts and National Minimum Wage

If you close on a bank holiday when staff are contracted to work, you may be required to pay them or renegotiate hours. Employment law doesn’t require you to pay bank holiday premiums, but your staff contract may. Review this with your team before announcing Easter hours.

More importantly: if staff have agreed to work Easter bank holidays as part of their normal contracted hours, they expect clarity at least two weeks in advance. Changing plans a few days before damages morale and makes recruitment harder.

Staffing and Planning for Easter Trading

Easter week generates 15–30% higher footfall in most UK pubs, particularly Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday. This isn’t Christmas-level surge, but it’s significant enough to require planning.

Staffing is where most landlords drop the ball. They assume they can handle the volume with their regular team, and then Wednesday and Thursday after the holidays are chaotic because staff are exhausted.

Create an Easter Rota Six Weeks Ahead

Unlike ad hoc bank holidays, Easter is fixed annually. Create your rota by early February. This gives:

• Staff time to request specific days off or swap shifts
• Time to recruit temporary bar staff if needed
• Time to brief new staff on your systems and house rules before the rush

When I was managing Teal Farm Pub during Easter week with simultaneous quiz nights, sports events, and food service, the difference between a planned rota and a last-minute scramble was the difference between profit and exhaustion. pub staffing cost calculator helps you budget for the extra hours accurately.

Expect Wage Cost Increases

Easter bank holidays typically require higher hourly rates or time-in-lieu. Budget for:

• Good Friday: Often considered a holiday premium (£1–2 above normal rate)
• Easter Monday: Same as Good Friday
• Easter Saturday: Normal rates, but footfall spike requires full staffing
• Wednesday–Thursday after Easter: Reduced footfall but staff fatigue increases error rates, so don’t skeleton-crew these days

Calculate your total Easter week wage cost now using your average hourly rate, expected hours, and premium rates. Compare that to your projected additional revenue. If costs exceed revenue gain, you may need to adjust hours or pricing.

Brief Staff on the Plan Early

By early March, every member of staff should know:

• Which days they’re working and at what hours
• What premium rate (if any) they’ll receive
• Whether their normal day off changes
• Which special events or menu items you’re running (e.g., Easter Sunday roast)

Staff who know the plan in advance are more engaged, make fewer mistakes, and stay longer in the industry. This ties directly to pub onboarding training quality — if your team is properly trained and briefed, bank holidays become opportunities instead of chaos.

Stock Management and Food Preparation

Easter week is heavily influenced by what your pub offers. A dry-sales-only wet-led pub has simple stock requirements. A food-led pub with Easter specials needs much more planning.

Wet Stock Planning

Order stock by the first week of March at the latest. Easter week typically sees 20–35% higher draught beer and cider volume, with a spike toward lager and lighter ales. Spirits and mixers also increase because customers are more likely to socialise and stay longer.

Key points:

• Order stock for Good Friday, Easter Saturday, and Easter Monday first — assume these three days will be busier than your busiest normal Saturday
• Good Friday often attracts afternoon drinkers (12–18:00) who don’t usually visit; plan for this segment
• Easter Monday is often a day trip destination if your pub is near a park, coast, or countryside — expect families and higher soft drinks demand
• Easter Sunday will feel like a normal quiet-to-moderate Sunday unless you’re running a specific event (roast, quiz, kids activity)

Cellar management during Easter is critical. Most stock issues I’ve seen aren’t caused by ordering the wrong quantity — they’re caused by poor rotation and careless stock counts. Do a full cellar count on 1 April before the Easter surge. This simple discipline prevents shortages of best-sellers and stock expiry waste.

Food Stock and Menu Planning

If you serve food, decide now whether you’re running a special Easter menu or your standard menu.

Special Easter menus (Easter roasts, spring lamb specials, hot cross bun desserts) work well but require:

• Supplier confirmation of availability (many food suppliers have reduced hours around Easter)
• Recipe testing in February to identify portion sizes and prep times
• Staff training on new dishes by early March
• Advance notification to customers (print menus early, promote on social media)

Standard menu with no changes is simpler but misses the opportunity to drive higher average check values. Most customers at Easter are more willing to spend on quality food and premium drinks.

For food cost management, use pub profit margin calculator to ensure your Easter specials are priced correctly. Food-led pubs often reduce margins slightly during holiday periods to drive volume — know your break-even point.

Dessert and Soft Drinks Stock

Easter families (particularly those with children) consume significantly more soft drinks, coffee, and desserts. A Monday afternoon with family groups will have a very different demand pattern than a Saturday night with drinkers. Stock accordingly.

Marketing Your Easter Opening

Most UK pubs leave Easter marketing to chance. Posting “We’re open on Easter Monday” on Facebook a week before is not a strategy.

Start promoting Easter hours in early March across these channels:

Premises Signage and Website

Update your pub’s opening hours on Google Business Profile, your website, and any third-party booking platforms by 1 March. This is not optional — locals and tourists check online before visiting. Incorrect hours result in customers arriving to a closed pub or missing peak opportunities.

Social Media Campaign

Run a small Easter campaign (3–4 posts over 4 weeks) highlighting:

• Your Easter opening hours (Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday)
• Any special events (family-friendly activities, live music, quiz nights, Easter roast)
• Why they should visit your pub specifically (what makes you different from the pub down the road)

If your pub runs pub pool leagues, quiz nights, or pub food events, promote how these continue during Easter or take a planned break.

Direct Customer Contact

Email your regulars directly if you have a customer database or WhatsApp group. Something simple: “Easter trading confirmed — open Good Friday 12–11pm, Easter Sunday normal hours, Easter Monday 12–11pm. Hot food all day. See you then.”

This single email prevents three types of customer loss: those who assume you’re closed, those who visit a competitor “just in case,” and those who show up at the wrong time and get frustrated.

Common Mistakes Pub Landlords Make

After 15 years in the pub trade and running pub management software used by 847 active users, I’ve seen the same Easter mistakes repeated annually.

Mistake 1: Assuming Everyone Works All Easter Days

Staff are people. Some have childcare commitments, family plans, or simply need days off. Announcing a 10-day rota in mid-March (just before Easter) creates chaos. You’ll lose staff, face call-outs, and make poor hiring decisions under pressure.

Fix: Create and publish rotas by early February. Give staff 6 weeks’ notice.

Mistake 2: Not Checking Your Premises Licence or Pubco Agreement

I’ve known landlords who closed on Good Friday because they assumed they could, only to discover their licence required them to open. I’ve also known pubco tenants who opened extended hours and were invoiced for a “breach of operating terms.”

Fix: Read your documents now. If unclear, ask your local authority (for licence questions) or your pubco (for agreement questions) in writing and keep the response.

Mistake 3: Overordering Stock

Easter week isn’t Christmas. Footfall spikes 15–30%, not 100%. Overordering by 50% leaves you with expiry waste and cash tied up in stock you don’t need.

Fix: Use three years’ historical Easter data to forecast. If you don’t have it, assume 25% above a normal week and adjust down after year one.

Mistake 4: Closing Without Notice

The single biggest reputation damage I’ve seen is landlords closing Easter week with no warning. Regulars show up expecting to see friends, families plan visits based on “the pub is usually open,” and you lose trust.

Fix: If you decide not to open, announce it by mid-March across all platforms. Explain why (staff leave, structural work, decision to take a break). Own the decision.

Mistake 5: Running Staff Into the Ground

Easter week is busy, but it’s not “all hands on deck every single day” busy. Many landlords roster staff for maximum hours for 10+ days straight. By Tuesday after Easter, people are making mistakes, calling in sick, and leaving the job.

Fix: Plan for 3–4 peak days (Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Monday, Easter Sunday if you’re doing a special event), not 10 days. Give your team days off in that week.

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