Shops Act 1950 (repealed 1.12.1994)

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67 Business of hairdresser or barber not to be carried on on Sunday.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, it shall not be lawful for any person in Scotland to carry on the business of a hairdresser or barber on Sunday. (2) Notwithstanding anything in this or any other Act, any person carrying on the business of a hairdresser or barber in Scotland may at any time for the purposes of that business attend any person— (a) in any place if that person is unable, by reason of bodily or mental infirmity, to go to the place where such business as aforesaid is carried on; or (b) in any hotel if that person is resident therein; or (c) in any sea-going ship: Provided that nothing in this subsection shall authorise the employment of any shop assistant in or about the business of a shop at any time when it would, under this Act, be unlawful for him to be so employed. (3) Notwithstanding anything in this or any other Act, any person of the Jewish religion may carry on the business of a hairdresser or barber in Scotland on Sunday on condition that he complies with the following provisions, that is to say— (a) he shall not carry on the business on Saturday; and (b) he shall previously give notice to the local authority of his intention to carry on the business on Sunday; and (c) if he carries on the business in any shop, he shall cause to be kept conspicuously posted in the shop a notice stating that it is open on Sunday for the purposes of the business, but is not open on Saturday for those purposes. (4) As respects any shop in which any such person carries on the said business on Sunday in compliance with the provisions of the last foregoing subsection, this Act shall have effect as if— (a) in subsection (1) of section one and subsection (1) of section seventeen, the references to weekdays were construed as references to weekdays other than Saturdays; (b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (5) Any person who contravenes the provisions of this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding— (a) in the case of a first offence, £50level 4 on the standard scale; and (b) in the case of a second or subsequent offence, £200level 4 on the standard scale.

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69 Regulations.

(1) The Secretary of State may make regulations— (a) for prescribing anything which under this Act is to be prescribed by regulations; and (b) as to the mode of ascertaining the opinion of occupiers of shops; and (c) as to conduct of local inquiries and matters incidental thereto; and (d) as to the procedure for obtaining the revocation of a closing order; and (e) generally for carrying into effect the following provisions of this Act, that is to say, Part I, in Part II sections seventeen , nineteen, twenty-one and section thirty-seven,Part III and, so far as it applies in relation to those provisions, Part V. (2) The power of making regulations under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument.

70 Proof and revocation of orders of local authorities.

(1) Any order made by a local authority under Parts I or III of this Act may be proved by the production of a copy thereof certified to be a true copy by a person purporting to be the proper officer of the local authority by whom the order was made. (2) Any order made by a local authority under this Act may, unless some other method of revocation is provided by this Act, be revoked by an order made in the like manner and subject to the like approval, if any, as the original order.

71 Enforcement.

(1) It shall be the duty of every local authority to enforce within their district the provisions of this Act and of the orders made under those provisions, and for that purpose to institute and carry on such proceedings in respect of contraventions of the said provisions and such orders as aforesaid as may be necessary to secure observance thereof. (2) For the purpose of their duties under the foregoing subsection, it shall be the duty of every local authority to appoint inspectors, and an inspector so appointed shall, for the purposes of his powers and duties, have in relation to shops all the powers conferred in relation to factories on inspectors by section one hundred and forty-six of the Factories Act 1961, and that section and section one hundred and fifty of the same Act shall apply accordingly. An inspector may, if so authorised by the local authority, institute and carry on any proceedings under this Act on behalf of the authority. (3) The following enactments in the Factories Act 1961, that is to say— subsection (1) of section one hundred and sixty-four (which provides for the summary prosecution of offences), subsection (2) of section one hundred and sixty-four (which relates to the terms of an information in proceedings under the Act), subsection (7) of section one hundred and sixty-four (which disqualifies certain interested persons from acting as members of a court trying an offence), section one hundred and sixty-five (which provides for an appeal from an order made by a court of summary jurisdiction in England or Wales), . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . subsection (4) of section one hundred and eighty-two (which confers on certain courts in Scotland power to deal with minor offences under the Act), subsection (6) of section one hundred and eighty-two (which enables a prosecutor in Scotland to give evidence in the proceedings), and subsection (7) of section one hundred and eighty-two (which renders a person convicted in Scotland of an offence against the Act liable in expenses), shall, so far as they are applicable, have effect as if re-enacted in this Act and in terms made applicable thereto. (4) All fines imposed in any proceedings instituted by or on behalf of a local authority in pursuance of their powers and duties under this Act shall be paid to the local authority: Provided that in England and Wales this subsection shall cease to have effect upon the coming into operation of section twenty-seven of the Justices of the Peace Act 1949. (5) Where an offence for which the occupier of a shop is liable under this Act has, in fact, been committed by some manager, agent, servant or other person, the manager, agent, servant or other person shall be liable to the like penalty as if he were the occupier. (6) Where the occupier of a shop is charged with an offence under this Act, he shall be entitled upon information duly laid by him to have any other person whom he charges as the actual offender brought before the court at the time appointed for hearing the charge; and if, after the commission of the offence has been proved, he proves to the satisfaction of the court that he has used due diligence to enforce the execution of this Act and that the said other person has committed the offence in question without his knowledge, consent or connivance, the said other person shall be summarily convicted of such offence, and the occupier shall be exempt from any fine. (7) The expression “shop” in this section— (a) so far as it relates to the enforcement of any other provision of this Act, has the same meaning as in that other provision; and (b) so far as it relates to the enforcement of any provision in Part II or Part IV of this Act which applies to retail trade or business carried on at any place not being a shop, includes a reference to any such place.

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73 Local authorities.

(1) In this Act the expression “local authority” means— as respects the city of London, the common council; as respects any London borough, the council of the borough and elsewhere, the council of the district. (2), (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (4) In Scotland, the foregoing provisions of this section shall not apply; and the expression “local authority” in the application of this Act to Scotland means an islands or a district council.

74 Interpretation.

(1) In this Act, save where the context otherwise requires— “bank holiday” includes any public holiday or day of public rejoicing or mourning; “butcher’s meat” means beef, mutton, veal, lamb or pork (including livers, heads, feet, hearts, lights, kidneys or sweetbreads), whether fresh, chilled, frozen or salted, and includes Kosher meat; “closing order” has the meaning assigned to it by section eight of this Act; “contravention”, in relation to any provision, includes any failure to comply with that provision; “early closing day” means as respects a shop, the day on which the shop is required to be closed for the serving of customers not later than one o’clock in the afternoon in pursuance of section 1 of this Act and the Shops (Early Closing Days) Act 1965; “enactment” includes any Act, and any rule, regulation, bye-law or order made under any Act; “factory” has the same meaning as in the Factories Act 1961; “general closing hours” means the hours fixed by or under section two of this Act or the hours substituted therefor by or under any other provision of this Act; “Kosher meat” means butchers’ meat killed and prepared by the Jewish ritual method; “local authority” has the meaning assigned to it by the last foregoing section; “owner”, in relation to any premises, has the same meaning as in the Public Health Act, 1936; “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made under section sixty-nine of this Act; “Public Health Acts” means the Public Health Act, 1936, . . . “residential hotel” means premises used for the reception of guests and travellers desirous of dwelling or sleeping therein; “retail trade or business” includes the business of a barber or hairdresser, the sale of refreshments or intoxicating liquors, the business of lending books or periodicals when carried on for purposes of gain, and retail sales by auction, but does not include the sale of programmes and catalogues and other similar sales at theatres and places of amusement; “sanitary authority” means, save as respects London, the council of a borough or urban or rural district, and as respects London, the sanitary authority for the purposes of the Public Health (London) Act, 1936; “shop” includes any premises where any retail trade or business is carried on; “shop assistant” means any person wholly or mainly employed in a shop in connection with the serving of customers or the receipt of orders or the despatch of goods; “theatre” includes any place used for film exhibitions (within the meaning of the Cinemas Act 1985) and any music hall or other similar place of entertainment; and “performance” has a corresponding meaning; “week” means the period between midnight on Saturday night and midnight on the succeeding Saturday night; . . . . . . “wholesale shop” means premises occupied by a wholesale dealer or merchant where goods are kept for sale wholesale to customers resorting to the premises; . . . . . . “working hours” means the time during which the persons employed are at the disposal of the employer, exclusive of any intervals allowed for rest and meals; and “hours worked” has a corresponding meaning; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3) Any reference in this Act to any enactment shall, except where the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended by any subsequent enactment.

75 General application to Scotland.

In the application of this Act to Scotland— for any reference to a county court there shall be substituted a reference to the sheriff; for any reference to intoxicating liquor there shall be substituted a reference to exciseable liquor; for any reference to the Public Health Act, 1936, there shall be substituted a reference to the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897.

76 Repeal.

(1) The enactments set out in the Eighth Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule. (2) Nothing in this repeal shall affect any instrument made or other thing whatsoever done under any enactment repealed by this Act or under any enactment repealed by the Shops Act 1912, and every such instrument or other thing shall continue in force and, so far as it could have been made or done under this Act, shall have effect as if made or done under the corresponding provision of this Act. (3) Any document referring to any Act or enactment repealed by this Act shall be construed as referring to this Act or the corresponding enactment in this Act. (4) Where under any Act passed before this Act there is power to affect Acts passed or in force before a particular time and that power would, but for the passing of this Act, have included power to change the law which is reproduced in this Act, then that power shall include power to make such provision as will secure the like change in the law as reproduced in this Act notwithstanding that this Act is not an Act passed or in force before that time and notwithstanding that the terms of this Act, apart from this subsection, are not such as to render that power applicable. (5) The mention of particular matters in this section shall not be held to prejudice or affect the general application of sections 16(1) and 17(2)(a) of the Interpretation Act 1978, with regard to the effect of repeals.

77 Short title, extent and commencement.

(1) This Act may be cited as the Shops Act 1950. (2) This Act shall not extend to Northern Ireland. (3) This Act shall come into operation on the first day of October, nineteen hundred and fifty.

FIRST SCHEDULE Trades and Businesses exempted from the Provisions as to Early Closing Day

Section 1. The sale by retail of intoxicating liquors. The sale of refreshments, including the business carried on at a railway refreshment room. The sale of motor, cycle, and air-craft supplies and accessories to travellers. The sale of newspapers and periodicals. The sale of meat, fish, milk, cream, bread, confectionery, fruit, vegetables, flowers, and other articles of a perishable nature. The sale of tobacco and smokers’ requisites. The business carried on at a railway bookstall on or adjoining a railway platform. The sale of medicines and medical and surgical appliances. Retail trade carried on at an exhibition or show, if the local authority certify that such retail trade is subsidiary or ancillary only to the main purpose of the exhibition or show.

SECOND SCHEDULE Transactions not affected by general closing hours or by Closing Orders

Sections 2 and 8. 1 The sale of— (a) meals or refreshments (including table waters, sweets, chocolates, sugar confectionery, and ice cream), for consumption on the premises, or (in the case of meals or refreshments sold on railway premises) for consumption on the trains: Provided that— in the case of canteens attached to and situated within or in the immediate vicinity of any works, if persons are employed at such works after the closing hour, and the canteen is kept open only for the use of such persons, meals or refreshments may be sold after the closing hour for consumption anywhere within the works premises; and for the purposes of the foregoing provisions, tobacco supplied at a meal for immediate consumption shall be deemed to form part of the meal; (b) newly cooked provisions and cooked or partly cooked tripe to be consumed off the premises; (c) intoxicating liquors to be consumed on or off the premises; (d) tobacco, table waters or matches on licensed premises during the hours during which intoxicating liquor is permitted by law to be sold on the premises; (e) tobacco, matches, table waters, sweets, chocolates, or other sugar confectionery or ice cream at any time during the performance in any theatre, cinema, music hall, or other similar place of entertainment so long as the sale is to a bonâ fide member of the audience and in a part of the building to which no other members of the public have access; (f) medicine or medical or surgical appliances, so long as the shop is kept open only for such time as is necessary for serving the customer; (g) newspapers, periodicals and books from the bookstalls of such terminal and main line stations as may be approved by the Secretary of State; (h) aircraft, motor, or cycle supplies or accessories for immediate use, so long as the shop is kept open only for such time as is necessary for serving the customer; (i) victuals, stores, or other necessaries required by any naval, military or air force authority for His Majesty’s forces or required for any ship on her arrival at or immediately before her departure from a port, so long as the shop is kept open only for such time as is necessary for serving the customer. 2 The transaction of any post office business.

THIRD SCHEDULE Intervals for Meals

Section 19. Part I Intervals for meals shall be arranged so as to secure that no person shall be employed for more than six hours without an interval of at least twenty minutes being allowed during the course thereof. Without prejudice to the foregoing provision— where the hours of employment include the hours from 11.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m., an interval of not less than three-quarters of an hour shall be allowed between those hours for dinner; and where the hours of employment include the hours from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., an interval of not less than half-an-hour shall be allowed between those hours for tea, and the interval for dinner shall be increased to one hour in cases where that meal is not taken in the shop, or in a building of which the shop forms part or to which the shop is attached: Provided that an assistant employed in the sale of refreshments or in the sale by retail of intoxicating liquors need not be allowed the interval for dinner between 11.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. if he is allowed the same interval so arranged as either to end not earlier than 11.30 a.m. or to commence not later than 2.30 p.m., and the same exemption shall apply to assistants employed in any shop on the market day in any town in which a market is held not oftener than once a week, or on a day on which an annual fair is held. Part II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

FOURTH SCHEDULE Method of Calculating the Holidays to which any Shop Assistant is entitled under Section Forty-one of this Act

1 The number of extra hours for which a shop assistant has been employed in or about the business of the shop while any one or more orders have been in force under section forty-one of this Act shall be added together, any fraction of an hour not exceeding half being treated as half an hour, and any fraction of an hour exceeding half being treated as an hour. 2 For the purposes of this Schedule the number of hours comprised in the customary working day on days other than half holidays shall be taken as the standard unit. 3 The aggregate number of the extra hours, as calculated in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Schedule, shall be divided by the standard unit, and the quotient, fractions thereof being disregarded, shall be the number of the days’ holiday to which the shop assistant shall be entitled.

FIFTH SCHEDULE

1 The sale of— (a) intoxicating liquors; (b) meals or refreshments whether or not for consumption at the shop at which they are sold, but not including the sale of fried fish and chips at a fried fish and chip shop; (c) newly cooked provisions and cooked or partly cooked tripe; (d) table waters, sweets, chocolates, sugar confectionery and ice-cream (including wafers and edible containers); (e) flowers, fruit and vegetables (including mushrooms) other than tinned or bottled fruit or vegetables; (f) milk and cream, not including tinned or dried milk or cream, but including clotted cream whether sold in tins or otherwise; (g) medicines and medical and surgical appliances— (i) at any premises registered under section 75 of the Medicines Act 1968; (ii) by any person who has entered into a contract with a Family Practioner Committeefor the supply of drugs and appliances; (h) aircraft, motor, or cycle supplies or accessories; (i) tobacco and smokers’ requisites; (j) newspapers, periodicals and magazines; (k) books and stationery from the bookstalls of such terminal and main line railway or omnibus stations, or at such aerodromes as may be approved by the Secretary of State; (l) guide books, postcards, photographs, reproductions, photographic films and plates, and souvenirs— (i) at any gallery, museum, garden, park or ancient monument under the control of a public authority or university; or (ii) at any other gallery or museum, or any place of natural beauty or historic interest, or any zoological, botanical or horticultural gardens, or aquarium, if and to the extent that the local authority certify that such sale is desirable in the interests of the public; or (iii) in any passenger vessel within the meaning of Part II of the Finance (1909-1910) Act 1910, while engaged in carrying passengers; (m) photographs for passports; (n) requisites for any game or sport at any premises or place where that game or sport is played or carried on; (o) fodder for horses, mules, ponies and donkeys at any farm, stables, hotel or inn. 2 The transaction of— (a) post office business; (b) the business carried on by a funeral undertaker.

SIXTH SCHEDULE

The sale of— bread and flour confectionery, including rolls and fancy bread; fish (including shell-fish); groceries and other provisions commonly sold in grocers shops, in so far as such sales are not included amongst the transactions mentioned in the Fifth Schedule to this Act.

SEVENTH SCHEDULE

The sale of— any articles required for the purposes of bathing or fishing; photographic requisites; toys, souvenirs and fancy goods; books, stationery, photographs, reproductions and postcards; any article of food.

EIGHTH SCHEDULE

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