Sunday Trading - the big debate…

We have just taken part in the Totally Locally Month of Sundays campaign, where we have been open on Sundays throughout August, in a bid to increase footfall, and therefore Sunday trading in general. It has been speculated that if successful, businesses who don’t normally open on Sundays, will continue to do so. Multiple people have asked me if it were something we would consider doing, and I feel that I need to explain my reasoning to some degree.

We have tried opening on Sunday's multiple times during our 8-year occupancy at 13 Castlegate. We did it during our first two summers (2018 and 2019) as there was very little footfall in the winter months. 2020 and 2021 were so messed up with the pandemic, that opening on Sundays just didn’t work out. We did it when we opened the second shop (2023), to coincide with the antique centre’s opening hours (who we rented the upstairs space from). Now, in 2025, we have tried again, and the story is much the same as it ever was – it just isn’t worth our time, effort or money.

There is a belief that Knaresborough is currently in a bit of a rut where Sundays are concerned and I think it’s partly true. Businesses don’t open because there isn’t enough footfall to make it worth it (as is our experience), but equally, customers don’t come to town because they say not enough is open to make it worth their time.

This is where the Totally Locally Month of Sundays has come in, to try and break the cycle. I believe in the grand scheme of things; it’s a great initiative and will hopefully help bring more people into Knaresborough on a Sunday. It’s why I agreed to take part in the campaign to begin with. However, for us as a business, we cannot keep it going beyond the month, no matter how successful it is.

From a completely selfish perspective, I cannot mentally cope with us being open 7 days a week. When we were open at our Silver Street shop in 2023, we were open 7 days a week, and mentally, it exhausted me. Even though I am not at the shop every day, on those days that we are open, I am for all intents and purposes, on call. Whether that is to discuss issues that staff have come up against, queries regarding the menu, ingredients in our bakes, cake orders, staff changes due to illness – the list is endless. If the shop is open, I am working – whether I mean to be or not. I could be checking to see how busy the day is, worrying if its quiet, whether to send a member of staff home, I could be thinking about the next day – if they sell out of scones or cakes, we will have to make more. There is no opportunity to truly switch off and be with family or simply just be, period.

As small independent business owners, we are automatically required to compete with chains and much larger companies, with much larger disposable incomes and many more resources. It’s just the nature of the beast. People cannot help but compare prices and availability between the two, sometimes not wholly appreciating the different struggles we face. It happens in Number Thirteen more often than you realise – having our cake prices compared to one’s available at a supermarket, or the price of our coffee compared to a chain store.

Knaresborough is lucky to have so many independent businesses, and lucky again to have so many customers who want to support them. There have been discussions online about why there aren’t any independent coffee shops or cafes open early in the morning or on a Sunday, stating that Café Nero is always busy and open early doors, so why don’t independents open too, locals want to support them, but are forced to go to a chain. The honest answer is, we simply need a day off.

Chains are run by countless, faceless individuals. They can hire staff to work in their stores, and if they have a quiet day, it's barely a blip on the radar. If we have a quiet day, it can be a knock-on effect for the rest of the week. Chains can get cheaper products because they are buying in such bulk quantities, and if something doesn’t sell, it can just go in the bin. We make many of our products at home by hand, and the ones we buy in are from artisan suppliers, sometimes costing pounds instead of pence. If something doesn’t sell and we have to throw it away, it can have a serious impact on our bottom line.

As an employee, wherever you work, you are entitled to certain benefits, such as two days off a week, a set amount of holiday days, sick pay etc. Why, as independent businesses, do we not deserve the same? Yes, we may have chosen this life, to work for ourselves and ‘set our own hours’ but in this industry, it just isn’t that cut and dry.

There is an argument that suggests I just move our day off to a day during the week – a Monday for example. However, only two years ago, we moved from a five-day week to a six-day week and started opening on Mondays, because customers said nothing was open on a Monday. Now, Mondays are a busy day for us, and I think many customers would be upset if we closed on Mondays and replace it with Sundays. Another selfish motive is that if we are open Monday-Saturday, as we currently are, there are five days where I can potentially work in the shop and only one day where I cannot, covering staff sickness, holidays etc, because my daughter is in school Monday to Friday. This means I save money on staff costs and keep the money in the business. If we close one day during the week, and open on Sundays, there will be two days where I cannot cover, as I have my daughter to take care of and be a parent to (which in my opinion, is actually more important).

I think a lot of people automatically think that the more you are open, and the money money you make, the more successful the business is, but that isn’t always the case. Yes, we could open earlier in the morning, or later into the evening, but if no one is there to spend their money, then its just money down the drain. We have found a sweet spot now, where we have the right number of staff, working for the right amount of time, to make sure everyone is working hard (but not overworked so much that service is negatively affected), but also not so there are staff twiddling their thumbs with nothing to do.

Also, to be completely candid, if we open seven days a week and it becomes successful, it could ironically be our downfall. At the moment, we are a small enough enterprise to only take a certain amount of money in a twelve-month period. We currently pay a reduced rate in VAT (12.5%), due to this annual turnover. We are sitting nicely at a point where we are at the higher end of the upper limit of this scheme, but not so high that we threaten to surpass it. If we go over that threshold at any point in any twelve-month period, we must pay the full amount of VAT (20%) to HMRC, which would make it impossible for us to continue trading, and we would have to close. That 7.5% difference is the make or break for us. All the money that we could potentially earn from being open on Sundays, would go straight to HMRC, and I would be paying staff costs, utilities, and product costs on top of that.

It’s a broken system. VAT is one of the most financially crippling aspects of owning a hospitality business. Under the full VAT scheme (20%) you are eligible as a business to claim back any VAT you pay for through your invoices. The problem is, a lot of products that hospitality businesses buy in are zero-rated, or not VAT-able; and almost all the products that a hospitality business sells are VAT-able. So as a business, we have to charge VAT onto our products, but don’t get the same amount back from HMRC through our VAT returns. For example, in my business, the only things that I could claim VAT back on or my utilities, my rent, disposables (like takeaway cups/lids etc) and some of our canned drinks. This just doesn’t cover what it needs to, to make it worth doing, which is why so many small businesses try to stay below the thresholds.

Anyway, that is another story for another day, so back to Sunday trading. Looking at the past month (August 2025) we have had four Sundays – we couldn’t get the number of staff needed on the final Sunday due to staff holidays. Every Sunday in this month has been our quietest day of the week, no exceptions. This is with fine weather every weekend, two Sundays out of the five being part of FEVA (with lots of added things going on in town), added publicity through Totally Locally, Summer holidays and bank holiday weekend at the end of the month. If Sundays aren’t showing themselves to be busy days during this time, then I don’t think we have been wrong to remain closed.

I am writing this on Sunday the 24th August, the fourth Sunday in the month and the Sunday of August Bank Holiday Weekend. This has been our worst day on record – in almost 8 years of trading, and so I made the executive decision to close early. It’s something I always try to avoid where possible. I don’t like telling our customers that we will be open, only to break my word and then have people turn up to a ‘closed’ sign on the door. However, in our first two hours of service (usually our busiest time of day), we only served 14 people, most of those customers only buying a coffee. Those with quick maths skills will work out that 14 x the cost of a coffee, isn’t much any way you look at it, and we just can’t afford to stay open if no one is coming to buy from us, it’s as simple as that.

It’s a difficult one to understand, because the town centre is undoubtedly busy. The car parks are full, the pavements are scattered with pedestrians wandering the streets, taking in the scenery and general splendour that Knaresborough has to offer, but they aren’t coming through the door, when normally, they would be. It has been commented by fellow business owners, that Sundays are a browsing day for many, not a spending day. Perhaps Sundays are a day better spent in pubs and restaurants, having brunch and roast dinners, enjoying a cold pint or a couple of crisp g&t’s. It could be that Sundays that are sunny, are better utilised having barbecues at home, enjoying the sun in the privacy of your own home and garden. Whatever the reason, Sundays do not seem to be the day for coffee and cake.

I hope that other businesses have had a more positive month, and that it has helped them decide to stay open on Sundays, or equally to remain closed. The Totally Locally Knaresborough campaign has helped businesses come together and open as a town, rather than going it alone. I’m glad that we have tried it and have been able to have our earlier assumptions confirmed. You don’t know until you try, do you? For my family at the very least, Sunday has always been seen as a day to relax, rest and re-cooperate before starting all again on Monday, and I personally am going to stick to that. For the good of the business, for the good of my family and for the good of my self, and I do not see anything wrong with that.