Bank holiday
A bank holiday is the name used for a public holiday in both the United Kingdom, Ireland, and some other Commonwealth countries. The UK started using bank holidays in 1871.
List of bank holidays[change | change source]
The below is a list of such holidays in the United Kingdom and Ireland. An "X" underneath a country's name means that country uses that date as a bank holiday
| Date | Name | England and Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | Republic of Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | ||
| 1 January | New Year's Day | X | X | X | X |
| 2 January | 2 January | X | |||
| 17 March | St. Patrick's Day | X | X | ||
| The Friday before Easter Sunday | Good Friday | X | X | X | |
| The day after Easter Sunday | Easter Monday | X | X | X | |
| First Monday in May¹ | Early May Bank Holiday (UK), Labour Day (Ireland) | X | X | X | X |
| Last Monday in May² | Spring Bank Holiday | X | X | X | |
| First Monday In June | June Bank Holiday | X | |||
| 12 July | Battle of the Boyne - Orangemen's Day | X | |||
| First Monday in August | Summer Bank Holiday | X | X | ||
| Last Monday in August | Summer Bank Holiday | X | X | ||
| Last Monday in October | October Bank Holiday | X | |||
| 30 November | St. Andrew's Day | X | |||
| 25 December | Christmas Day | X | X | X | X |
| 26 December | Boxing Day, St. Stephen's Day | X | X | X | X |
- For one year only, 1995, this holiday was moved to the second Monday in May – i.e., from 1 May to 8 May – to commemorate the 50th anniversary of VE Day.
- For one year only, 2002, this holiday was moved to 4 June. This caused it to follow an extra bank holiday on 3 June, making a four-day weekend to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II.
In other countries[change | change source]
India has 15 bank holidays
Hong Kong calls public holidays "bank holidays", even though they are not officially called that.