Bank holiday

This article is about the type of public holiday in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Crown dependencies. For other uses, see Bank holiday (disambiguation).

Bank Holiday, Kew by Camille Pissarro, 1892

A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies, and a colloquial term for a public holiday in Ireland. In the United Kingdom, the term is used to refer to all public holidays, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation, or held by convention under common law. ^[1] In Ireland, there are some bank holidays which are not public holidays. ^[2]

The term "bank holiday" refers to the fact that banking institutions typically close for business on such holidays, as they once did on certain saint's days. ^[3]

Bank holidays were introduced by John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury in the Bank Holidays Act 1871, ^[4] which was superseded by the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971.

List of current holidays

See also: Public holidays in the United Kingdom, Public holidays in Scotland, Public holidays in the Republic of Ireland, Public holidays in the Isle of Man, Public holidays in Jersey, and Public holidays in Guernsey

The UK government publishes always up-to-date lists of upcoming and past bank holiday dates for England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. ^[5]

Current bank and public holidays

Date	Name	England and Wales [5] (8)	Scotland [5] (10)	Northern Ireland [5] (10)	Republic of Ireland [6] (10)	Isle of Man [7] (10)	Jersey and Guernsey (9)
1 January	New Year's Day	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
2 January [note 1]	2 January		Y
First Monday in February, or 1 February if the date falls on a Friday	Imbolc / Saint Brigid's Day				Y
17 March [note 1]	Saint Patrick's Day			Y	Y
The Friday before Easter Sunday	Good Friday	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y
The Monday after Easter Sunday	Easter Monday	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y
First Monday in May [note 2] [note 3]	Early May bank holiday	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
9 May	Liberation Day						Y
Last Monday in May [note 4]	Spring Bank Holiday / Late May Bank Holiday	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y
First Monday in June	June Bank Holiday				Y
First Friday in June	Senior Race Day					Y
5 July [note 1]	Tynwald Day					Y
12 July [note 1]	The Twelfth (Battle of the Boyne)			Y
First Monday in August	Summer Bank Holiday (August Bank Holiday)		Y		Y
Last Monday in August	August Bank Holiday	Y		Y		Y	Y
Last Monday in October	October Bank Holiday				Y
30 November [note 1]	St Andrew's Day		Y
25 December [note 5]	Christmas Day	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
26 December [note 5] [note 6]	Boxing Day / Saint Stephen's Day	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y

Notes

1. When a stated fixed date falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday is normally designated a bank holiday instead. When Christmas Day and New Year's Day fall on a Saturday (and thus 26 December and 2 January on a Sunday), the following Tuesday 28 December (and Tuesday 4 January in Scotland) are also bank holidays.
2. In 1995 this holiday was moved to Monday 8 May and in 2020 to Friday 8 May – to commemorate the 50th and 75th anniversary of VE Day.
3. In 2011 an additional public holiday was declared to ensure that most people would have a chance to celebrate the Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, making a four-day weekend as May Day was on the following Monday. ^[8]
4. In 2002, 2012, and 2022 this holiday was moved to early June to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Golden, Diamond, and Platinum Jubilees. All three were paired with a second extra holiday to create a four-day weekend.
5. When Christmas Day falls on a Saturday (and thus 26 December on a Sunday), and when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday (and thus 26 December on a Monday), the Monday following Christmas Day is designated a bank holiday by the 1971 Act.
6. When Christmas Day falls on a Saturday (and thus 26 December on a Sunday), the following Tuesday 28 December is also normally designated a bank holiday by proclamation. (See e.g. "No. 63425". The London Gazette . 23 July 2021. p. 13140.) When Christmas Day falls on a Sunday (and thus 26 December on a Monday), the following Tuesday 27 December is designated a bank holiday by the 1971 Act.

See also

• List of holidays by country
  • Federal holiday, US equivalent
• Bank Holidays Act 1871
• Proposed St David's Day bank holiday

References

1. Cunningham, Stephanie; Brione, Patrick (14 March 2025). Bank and public holidays (briefing paper) (PDF) (Report). House of Commons Library. SN06170.
2. Ryan-Christensen, Aoife (2 February 2024). "All you need to know about bank holidays in Ireland". RTÉ.ie .
3. "bank holiday". Britannica. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
4. Green, Will (5 May 2025). "Bank Holidays: A Short History of Long Weekends". Marketing Made Clear. Retrieved 11 September 2026.
5. "UK bank holidays". UK government. Lists upcoming and recent bank holidays, updated as required.
6. Public holidays, Citizens Information Board, 20 January 2020
7. "Bank Holidays". Government of the Isle of Man. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
8. "Royal Wedding: Prince William and Kate set date". BBC. 23 November 2010. Archived from the original on 24 November 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.

External links

• UK bank holidays
• Scotland Bank Holidays - Scottish Government
• Text of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk .
• Public holidays (Ireland)
• Bank holidays (Ireland)
• (National) bank holidays (Ireland)