FORGET resting or going to church, hitting the shops and exercising the credit card has become one of the nation's favourite Sunday pastimes.

This week marks the tenth anniversary of Sunday trading, when the law was relaxed to allow traders large and small to throw up their shutters and get their tills ringing.

While anti-trading campaigners originally bemoaned the demise of the traditional day of rest - claiming it would never catch on - retailers have now revealed that Sunday has since become the biggest shopping day of the week after Saturday.

Under the current laws, all stores in England and Wales are free to trade in all goods on Sundays.

Small shops can open all day, while bigger chains are usually restricted to six hours.

And for more than 3.5m people - or 6.5 per cent of the workforce - Sunday is just another working day.

But union bosses claim that the effects of working on Sunday are detrimental to the personal health and family harmony of those doing it.

Kevin Haggarty, regional spokesman for the shopworkers' union USDAW, said: "When the legislation was first brought in, retailers said they would bring in premium rates of pay for Sunday working.

"But for many shopworkers, Sunday has become a normal working day and it shouldn't be.

"The move towards shops opening 24 hours a day seven days a week is a major concern for us because of the effect on the health, well being and family life of shop workers.

"People need to be aware that they can opt out of Sunday working if they wish, unless they are specifically contracted to work on a Sunday."

But the stores themselves say Sundays are less frantic.

Duty manager at Borders bookshop in Bournemouth Square, Richard Winter, said: "Most of us here would agree that Sunday has a different ambience than Saturday and is far less frenetic. Customers seem to be far more stressed on Saturdays and I know I prefer working on a Sunday if given a choice between the two.

"On Sundays people come in and get the papers and then go get a coffee or a doughnut. It's all relaxed - just how it should be.

"We also find that Sunday is a very good day for trading for us and if it were legal we would like to open longer than the six hours currently allowed."

Manager of Debenhams in Bournemouth, Stephen Mewha, agrees with the staffing issue.

"Feedback from our staff about working on Sundays is that customers are much more leisurely and relaxed in their shopping.

"On Sundays people aren't rushing around trying for example to buy tights during their lunchtimes. Instead they've been out for lunch, are with their family and friends, and have the time to look around more.

"Our staff say they enjoy working Sundays because they have more time to do what they were hired to do - that is show off our products.

"It's been a very good move for us to open Sundays and we would never go back."

Chairman of the Bournemouth Chamber of Trade and Commerce, Michael Vincent, said in the early days of the decade some of the smaller shops were concerned about staffing numbers.

"But as with all these things, everything worked out okay. Many of the smaller shops were opening on a Sunday beforehand anyway, and as is always the case with small businesses - if you can't find the staff you need, you drag yourself out of bed and do it yourself.

"I think therefore that the experience of Sunday trading for the smaller shop has been positive. And as I always say, 'if business was easy, then everyone would be doing it'."

First published: August 31