dynamicdebz Posted September 1, 2006 Share Posted September 1, 2006 I remember as a child our local newsagents use to close on a Wednesday afternoon. Doesn't happen now. My late father (bless him) said it was because Sheffield United in there early days were all shop owners & they use to have training on Wednesday afternoons, so had to close the shops. This carried on as a tradition for many years. Is this right? Does anyone remember them closing & is my dad right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxon51 Posted September 1, 2006 Share Posted September 1, 2006 Sounds like your dad was confusing United with Wednesday. Wednesday were a team made up of butchers and played on wednesday because it was their afternoon off. Hence the name, and the blue and white stripes. Wednesday was early closing day for most shops, but the reason escapes me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tradescanthia Posted September 1, 2006 Share Posted September 1, 2006 Most groups of shops used to have a post office amongst them and post offices always had a 'half day' because they opened on saturday mornings. The shops around the post office found that trade was slow after the post office had closed for the afternoon so they closed as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterw Posted September 1, 2006 Share Posted September 1, 2006 From the early 19th century all shop-assistants were given a hallf-day off to compensate for them having to work all day Saturday. It was the birth-child of a young Manchester man (can’t remember his name) who died at the age of 22 before seeing his young life’s work come to fruition. He led a campaign that saw many shop-owners in the North of England siging a document pledging to close one half day each week. The scroll sealing this bargain is about 32-feet long and all the signatures are on parchment which, alas, Manchester City Library kept rolled up for many years until it reached the stage where it cannot be unrolled without damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daven Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 I thought that half day closing in Sheffield used to be on a Thursday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dynamicdebz Posted September 2, 2006 Author Share Posted September 2, 2006 DOH... Yes sorry saxon its me who get it wrong not my dad, checked with my sis she said it was Sheffield Wednesday. Anyway my dads story sounds better rather than because they worked on Saturdays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dynamicdebz Posted September 2, 2006 Author Share Posted September 2, 2006 Oh right! DOH... I'm with it now!!! They had Wednesday off because of working Saturday as mentioned by nimrod & peterw. Then a group of shop owners started up a football team & because they had Wednesday afternoon off, that is when they decided to train, hence the name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 Newsagents open when there are newspapers, so that's 7 days a week from 4.30am. Think about it... working 7 days a week 5 of which are 14 hour days, the other 2 days only 7 1/2 hours, and only 10 days off a year! My family were newsagents for about 70 years, and the only time off together for short holidays was at Easter and Christmas so those half days on Wednesday and Sunday were very precious. We even had to open up for the Stars on Wednesday tea time, so that wasn't a proper half day, oh and late opening for Green Un's on Saturdays. Now that papers are even printed on Bank Holidays and people don't seem to be able to organise themselves enough so that they don't demand you're open in case you need a Mars Bar on Sunday afternoon it's not a trade that I was ever going to go into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 Our post office still shuts for a half day on a Wednesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dynamicdebz Posted September 2, 2006 Author Share Posted September 2, 2006 Obviously Tony it is a choice your family made for whatever reason, after you pointed out a few facts its a proffession that I wouldn't envy. However in this day & age there are very few family run newsagents, they are usually part of a large franchise that employ people that will have a decent amount of time off & holidays. However newsagents owned by many of our asian community are a god send, just so we can get a mars bar when we feel like it. After saying all this are the other psoters correct about SWFC & Wednesday half day closing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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