With three Bank Holidays in May, Brits have been spoiled this month but how do we have to wait for the next one?
Every year, hard-working Brits get a handful of days off thanks to Bank Holidays.
Typically, you get eight days if you live in England and Wales, nine if you live in Scotland and 10 if you live in Northern Ireland.
However, with the King's Coronation this year, we were treated to a bonus day off to celebrate.
Why do we have the Spring Bank Holiday?
The most recent Bank Holiday was marked on May 29 which originally started as the Monday after Pentecost, also known as Whitsun or Whit Monday.
Marked after Pentecost, Whit Monday is a Christian celebration that takes place 50 days after Easter Sunday.
Whit Monday would be observed at the start of June but it was replaced with the Spring bank holiday in the UK in 1971 by the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, after a trial period from 1965 to 1970.
Rather than the beginning of June, it is now held on the last Monday of May.
Bank Holidays to look forward to in 2023
There are still three Bank Holidays left in 2023 for those in England and Wales:
- August 28 - Summer Bank Holiday
- December 25 - Christmas Day
- December 26 - Boxing Day
Scots have four Bank Holidays to look forward to:
- August 7 - Summer Bank Holiday
- November 30 - St. Andrew's Day
- December 25 - Christmas Day
- December 26 - Boxing Day
Meanwhile, those in Northern Ireland can also enjoy four more Bank Holidays
- July 12 - Battle of the Boyne (Orangemen’s Day)
- August 28 - Summer Bank Holiday
- December 25 - Christmas Day
- December 26 - Boxing Day
UK Bank Holidays in 2024
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- March 29 - Good Friday
- April 1 - Easter Monday
- May 6 - Early May Bank Holiday
- May 27 - Spring Bank Holiday
- August 26 - Summer Bank Holiday
- December 25 - Christmas Day
- December 26 - Boxing Day
As above, Bank Holidays in Scotland and Northern Ireland will differ with both the Battle of the Boyne - and St Andrew's Day also being observed.
For a full list of Bank Holiday dates through until the end of 2025, or if you want to see past dates visit the Gov.uk website.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel