Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Aldi, and M&S are among the supermarkets to adjust opening hours at stores across the UK during the festive period.
As Christmas is fast approaching, most of us will have already started to stock up on food and drink for the big day ahead of time, but with so much to prepare for, it’s pretty easy to forget something important – which tends to leave us running to the shops before 25th.
While some have probably opted for home deliveries or Click & Collect services, others still prefer to shop in store.
To help you make sure everything is sorted, we’ve pulled together a list of all the major supermarket opening hours over the festive period, so grab your bags for life and get your shopping list at the ready, because Santa is on his way and he’ll be expecting his annual dose of mince pies.
Here’s a roundup list of supermarket opening hours.
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Tesco
Shoppers are being advised to check the Tesco Store Locator for the festive opening times at their local, as different branches may be operating different hours, however, most stores are operating reduced hours on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day, as well as being closed all day on Christmas Day.
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Here’s a rough guideline:
Monday 23 December: 6am – 12pm
Christmas Eve: 6am – 7pm
Christmas Day: CLOSED
Boxing Day: 9am – 6pm
Friday 27 – Monday 30 December: normal hours
New Year’s Eve: 6am – 7pm
New Year’s Day: 9am – 6pm
Check the opening times for your local Tesco store here.
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Sainsbury’s
Just like Tesco, Sainsbury’s will be operating reduced hours on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, as well as being closed on Christmas day, but shoppers are encouraged to head to the retailer’s Store Locator to find out the opening times for their nearest branch.
Monday 23 December: 6am – 10pm
Christmas Eve: 6am to 7pm
Christmas Day: CLOSED
Boxing Day: 9am to 6pm
Friday 27 – Monday 30 December: normal hours
New Year’s Eve: 7am – 7pm
New Year’s Day: 8am – 8pm
You can check the opening times for your local Sainsbury’s store here.
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Asda
Following along the same lines as Tesco and Sainsbury’s, Asda shoppers are being advised to check the Asda Store Locator for the festive opening times at their local store, as different branches are operating different hours, however, most stores are operating reduced hours on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day, as well as being closed all day on Christmas Day.
Here’s a rough guideline:
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Monday 23 December: 5am to 10pm
Christmas Eve: 5am – 7pm
Christmas Day: CLOSED
Boxing Day: 9am – 6pm
Friday 27 – Monday 30 December: normal hours
New Year’s Eve: 7am – 7pm
New Year’s Day: 9am – 6pm
Check the opening times for your local ASDA store here.
Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, and more have adjusted their opening hours for the festive period / Credit: Tesco
Morrisons
Morrisons is open throughout the festive season, just like its other competitions, and will only closing on Christmas Day, but hours will vary so you’ll need to check the opening times for your local.
Monday 23 December: 7am – 10pm
Christmas Eve: 5am to 7pm
Christmas Day: CLOSED
Boxing Day: 9am – 6pm
Friday 27 – Monday 30 December: normal hours
New Year’s Eve: 7am – 7pm
New Year’s Day: 9am to 6pm
Check the opening times for your local Morrisons store here.
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Aldi
Aldi stores across the UK are set to close of the three major festive bank holidays this year, meaning doors will be shut on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Day, with reduced hours in operation on the days surrounding it.
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Here’s what you need to know:
Monday 23 December: 7am – 10pm
Christmas Eve: 7am – 6pm
Christmas Day & Boxing Day: CLOSED
Friday 27 & Saturday 28 December: 8am – 8pm
Sunday 29 December: 9.30am – 4pm
Monday 30 December: 8am – 8pm
New Year’s Eve: 8am – 6pm
New Year’s Day: CLOSED
You can find out more about the supermarket’s decision to shut up shop on the three festive bank holidays this year here.
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Lidl
Lidl has released a list of its festive opening hours, and just like Aldi, will also be closing most of its stores on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Day, but you’ll want to check Lidl’s website to find out more information.
Just like many other retailers on this list, Co-op’s opening times vary from store to store over the festive period, but the retailer has confirmed it will be operating reduced hours on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day – with all branches closed on Christmas Day across the UK as a standard.
Shoppers are being urged to check the Co-op Store Finder for the opening hours for their nearest branch here.
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M&S
Once again, M&S is another retailer where festive opening hours differ from store to store, so it’s best to check your local branch specifically, but what we do know is that all stores across the UK will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Day as a standard.
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Monday 23 December: 6am – 10pm
Christmas Eve: 6am – 7pm
Christmas Day & Boxing Day: CLOSED
Friday 27 & Saturday 28 December: 8am – 8pm
Sunday 29 December: 11am – 5pm
Monday 30 December: 8am – 9pm
New Year’s Eve: 8am – 7pm
New Year’s Day: CLOSED
Check the opening times for your local M&S store here.
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Featured Image – Morrisons
Shopping
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Tesco are introducing ‘VAR-style’ self-checkouts in the UK
Danny Jones
Many people think VAR has already gone too far and want it gone from football full stop, and we’re here to tell you that you’re a fool; your hopes are in vain, and the technology is only going to become more common as time goes on. Sorry.
So much so, in fact, that Tesco look are bringing in their own virtual referee into self-checkout systems in shops. You could say the ‘game’s gone…’
Of course, we’re being a bit flippant here, but if you have seen ‘VAR’ and ‘Tesco‘, you’re not seeing things: this is genuinely a thing that is being rolled out here in the UK, with video footage of the supermarket chain’s next self-checkout technology going viral online.
Thought you’d got away with sneaking an extra little something in the bag without paying? Think again.
— UB1UB2 West London (Southall) (@UB1UB2) May 28, 2025
We’ll admit, this was the first time we’d come across the technology, but as it turns out, the updated self-checkout service has been in place for a while.
Similar VAR checkouts have already been installed at other retailers, Sainsbury’s and ASDA, although some reports claim that while stores capture footage of shoppers to check if they’ve scanned all of their items, it is thought that not all of these self-service tills show a playback when an error is detected.
Although this particular speculation has sparked some uproar and debate online, many have quite rightly pointed out that CCTV records your movement in any given shop.
Regardless, it’s fair to say that aside from the obvious memes and people poking fun at the new system, many on social media have shared some pretty strong opinions on the matter.
Not that it matters much – it’s likely this will soon become increasingly the norm, with the likes of Sainsbury’s having already introduced barriers which require customers to scan their receipt in order to leave at branches such as the site on Regent Road Retail Park over in Salford.
As yet, it’s unclear how many of these new self-service tills are in operation and whether they are limited to larger supermarket locations of their Express convenience stores, but don’t be surprised if you come across one.
Put simply, if a barcode isn’t registered before being put on the scale and/or set aside to be packed away, the Tesco till will read: “The last item wasn’t scanned properly. Remove from bagging area and try again.”
Addressing these new VAR-style checkouts in an official statement, a company spokesperson said: “We are always looking at technology to make life easier for our customers.
“We have recently installed a new system at some stores which helps customers using self-service checkouts identify if an item has not been scanned properly, making the checkout process quicker and easier.”
What do you make of the new Tesco and their new VAR self-checkout technology?
Emily Sergeant -
17th December 2024 
