Aldi Bank Holiday Opening Times

Aldi is the easiest supermarket in Britain to plan around on a bank holiday, for one structural reason: it has no convenience format. Every store is roughly the same kind of store, so every store behaves roughly the same way.

One format, one pattern

Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons each run a large-store estate and a separate convenience estate, and the two follow different trading rules. Aldi does not. Its UK shops are almost all above the 280 square metre threshold that defines a “large shop” in England and Wales, which means the same restrictions apply to the whole estate and the same reduced hours tend to be applied across it.

In practice that gives you a very predictable set of times.

The Easter Sunday closure is not Aldi’s choice

Because Aldi’s stores are large shops, the Sunday Trading Act 1994 closes them on Easter Sunday in England and Wales — the one Sunday of the year when a large shop cannot trade at all. Good Friday and Easter Monday are unaffected and Aldi opens as normal on both, which surprises shoppers who assume the whole weekend is restricted. Our Easter bank holiday guide explains why Easter Sunday is not a bank holiday in the first place.

Scotland is outside the Sunday Trading Act entirely, so Scottish Aldi stores are not legally required to close on Easter Sunday and generally keep Sunday hours all year. Scottish stores also work to a different bank holiday calendar — see bank holidays in Scotland.

Boxing Day: a policy, not a rule

Nothing in UK law prevents a supermarket opening on Boxing Day. Aldi has nonetheless made a point of closing its UK stores on 26 December in recent years, presenting it as a day off for staff. Waitrose and M&S have taken similar decisions. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda have generally opened on shortened hours.

Watch the timing: when Boxing Day falls at a weekend, the bank holiday moves to a substitute weekday but 26 December itself stays the closure date for retailers. In 2026, 26 December is a Saturday and the Boxing Day bank holiday shifts to Monday 28 December.

Specialbuys and the middle aisle

Aldi’s Specialbuys land on Thursdays and Sundays. A bank holiday Monday does not move the drop, but it does move the crowd — a Thursday launch before a long weekend clears faster than usual. If a specific Specialbuy is the reason for the trip, go at opening rather than mid-afternoon.

Checking before you go

Aldi lists hours per store on its website store finder, and posts bank holiday times on the door in the week before. There is no national published bank holiday timetable, so a store page is the only reliable answer. For the equivalent information on every other chain, see our supermarket bank holiday opening hours guide.