How we check opening times

Every answer on Is It Open Today is a single store or service, on a single day, in a single part of the UK: England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. For each one we look for a source we can link to, and if we can't find one we say so. Here's exactly how that works.

1. Dates

Bank holiday dates, including substitute days when a holiday falls at a weekend, come from GOV.UK's bank holidays list. Our build checks every date against GOV.UK's published data and stops if anything doesn't match.

2. Where answers come from

1. The company's own announcements. Opening-times pages, store locators, press releases and published service schedules, such as Aldi's Christmas 2026 announcement and Royal Mail's holiday service list.
2. UK trading law, read on legislation.gov.uk. Large shops (over 280 sq m, about 3,000 sq ft) must close on Christmas Day in England and Wales (Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004) and in Scotland (Christmas Day and New Year's Day Trading (Scotland) Act 2007), and on Easter Sunday in England and Wales (Sunday Trading Act 1994) and Northern Ireland (Shops (Sunday Trading &c.) (Northern Ireland) Order 1997). When a law closes large shops, we say "Closed", link the law and note that smaller and exempt shops can open.
3. Trade or news reports are never used as an answer. If one is useful context, we label it clearly and the answer stays "Check local".

We don't use crowd-sourced lists, other "what's open" sites, or last year's hours presented as this year's.

Which regions a chain covers

We only say a chain trades in a region, or doesn't, when the company's own store finder, branch finder or official pages show it. Each store page lists the page we used. Where we couldn't confirm either way, we don't claim anything: answers for that region show "Check local".

3. What each answer means

• Open A source says the store or service is open. If the source gives hours, we show them.
• Limited Open with restrictions, such as the legal Sunday window for large shops.
• Closed The company says it's closed, or the law requires large shops to close.
• Check local We couldn't find an official answer yet. This is not a guess that it's open or closed.
• Depends The answer differs between England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Pick your region to see yours.

4. Sources and "last checked" dates

Every answer lists its sources with a link and the date we last checked them. Right now 186 of 1,082 region-level answers have a confirmed source. Pages without any confirmed answer are kept out of search engines until one is published. The last full check was 2026-10-16.

5. When we update

• Before every bank holiday, because each chain publishes its holiday opening times on its own timetable.
• When you tell us. Corrections are checked against an official source and applied.

6. Limits

Chain-wide answers can't cover every location. Franchises, shopping-centre units and shops in stations, airports and hospitals can keep their own hours, and companies can change plans at short notice. If it matters, check the store's page in the company's store finder; every answer page links to it.

7. Corrections

Found a mistake? Email info@isitopentoday.co.uk with the store, the day, where you are and, if you can, a link to the official source. See Contact.