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Full list of UK shops and supermarkets shut on Boxing Day 2025

Harry J — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 16:56:32 +0000

Shoppers are urged to plan ahead as a wave of major shops and supermarkets have announced they will be closed on Boxing Day.

Anyone planning a post-Christmas shopping spree will need to check opening/closing times, as more stores have announced their festive hours. From Aldi and Poundland to Marks and Spencer, here’s a round-up of UK shops that are closed on December 26.

Aldi has confirmed that all UK stores will shut on Boxing Day, following the same pattern as in past years. The doors shut at 6pm on Christmas Eve, and branches won’t reopen until December 27.

Home Bargains will also shut shops, allowing its staff members to get a Christmas break.

Marks and Spencer will close most of its stores on Boxing Day again. Only a handful of service stations will remain open, operating differently, however.

Poundland and The Works will be closed for the day.

Several other major high street names have also confirmed they will not open on Boxing Day, including Dunelm, Pets at Home, Wickes, and B&Q.

Tesco is closing its superstores on Boxing Day, although many Express shops will reopen with reduced hours.

Waitrose has only a very small number of its stores operating for the delivery platform; however, it will keep almost all of its branches shut.

Not every retail store will close on December 26. Lidl will be open across the UK on Boxing Day, with reduced hours.

Asda will reopen from mid-morning on Boxing Day, and Morrisons will remain open with limited hours.

Sainsbury’s will also be open to the public on Boxing Day; however, superstores will have reduced hours.

Boots, Superdrug and H&M will be open on Boxing Day, ready for their end-of-year sales.

Next has not confirmed its Boxing Day sales just yet, but historically, it has closed early. And Primark will likely be trading on December 26, in line with previous years.

Despite national policies, there will likely be some varying opening times depending on staffing, store size and location throughout the Christmas period.

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Halloween’s golden opportunity for DGM Growers and Waitrose

Harry J — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 05:30:30 +0000

Getting its glow on never stops for pumpkin supremo and Waitrose partner DGM Growers as Halloween hungry customers drive ballooning demand and extend the decorating season. The specialist veg group is delivering more than 100,000 prime specimens to the supermarket chain this year. The majority comprise edible large and medium carving pumpkins, but a fan base is growing for the smaller Ghost variety too. Prized for its pale skin this creates eerie eye-catching displays.

“Halloween continues to grow in popularity and searches on Waitrose.com are up 32% this year,” says fresh produce and horticulture buying manager Russell Crowe. “While these pumpkins might not be used in the same way as other fruit and veg, sourcing still matters to our customers. That’s why we’re really pleased to partner with DGM Growers to support local farmers and offer homegrown pumpkins. When you are carving your dastardly decorations you can be sure you are backing British too.”

DGM, which employs 158 staff, has doubled sales in the past eight years and now turns over some £38million. Renowned as the only grower of chicory in the UK, it’s part of the Fresca Group which has a 150-year-old heritage dating back to London’s old Covent Garden market and now supplies retailers, food service and wholesalers. Today it has the UK’s largest glasshouse production at Thanet Earth in Kent.

DGM’s preparation takes 11 months with Halloween’s tight seasonal window and the need to handle heavyweight stock piling on the challenges. “Pumpkins are an increasingly important part of our portfolio,” says DGM managing director Simon Scott.

“The emotion involved in delivering a successful Halloween, all within eight weeks, is like no other. Thankfully it’s a robust crop. The colour is determined by good sunlight and care post-harvest. Continued investment in supporting logistics like cold storage space ensures we can meet demand. People don’t want dirty pumpkins, but sometimes cleaning them can reduce shelf life. We have focussed on preventing them getting dirty in the first place by planting areas of a field with grass or a cover crop and then placing the harvested pumpkins on top.”

Halloween’s spellbinding impact is also seeding new trends in home decoration. Customers are embracing watermelon and pineapple carving to express their desire for creative novelty, notes Waitrose buyer Phoebe Walsh. “Pumpkin painting is becoming more popular too,” she adds. “We have a slick logistics plan and stay in regular contact with DGM so farms and transport are organised for a quick turnaround.” There could be more shape-shifting in store on the pumpkin front too. “We are continually looking at what’s next from different coloured pumpkins to unusual shapes,” says Scott. “There’s a lot going on with breeders to widen the choice and there’s appetite in the UK for that.” www.waitrose.com, www.frescagroup.co.uk

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Halloween veg pledge for revellers, retailers and growers

Harry J — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 22:47:41 +0000

Will revellers make a veg pledge this Halloween to glow up a sculpted pumpkin then turn it into a tasty dish or compost booster that lifts the spirits without any waste? Leading UK producer Barfoots certainly hopes so as it delivers 10,000 pumpkins a day during the spooky season to its long-standing customer and like-minded sustainability champion Waitrose, while both see the bewitching effect on sales.

For the retailer that’s a 7.6 per cent rise this year as Halloween’s haunting grip on the public’s imagination grows. For Barfoots the flashy orange heavyweights, a variety of squash, are part of its wider speciality veg growing and preparation operation. This stretches from farms in southern England to hubs in Europe, west Africa’s Senegal and the Americas.

Now a six-generation family farming business, it was founder and former chief executive Peter Barfoot, who in 1976 pioneered the market for semi-exotic veg with sweetcorn, spotted along with pumpkins when he was in the US.

At home these flourished in the light-drenched, balmy micro-climate of the Hampshire Basin. Today the producer group, which serves major supermarket chains and restaurant groups, has a turnover of some £250 million and employs 600 full time with many more seasonal workers. In Senegal it has created thousands of jobs, introduced medical care and built schools with support of the Waitrose Foundation.

On the veg front it supplied 135,000 tonnes of fresh produce to the UK last year with sweetcorn the most popular followed by squash, tenderstem broccoli, sweet potatoes, courgettes, and chillies. Most tricky is fragrant British asparagus, each stem a mini-miracle given growing involves a highly warm weather-dependent, hand-grown process taking two years.

Barfoots major eco-moves include becoming energy self-sufficient since 2010 thanks to a bio-digestion plant which converts all vegetable waste such as sweetcorn husks and supplies organic fertiliser. This is now supported by 5,464 solar panels on two sites.

Barfoots’ pumpkins are grown in the spring and by August are large green spheres that then turn orange. Once cut away from their plant from early September, they are placed on fleece to keep rot free and lined up ready for packing and shipping to stores.

“Pumpkin logistics are very much focussed on one day – the product is extremely large and heavy requiring military precision planning and hard work,” observes Marks whose management team includes three of Peter’s daughters Jo-Anne, Kim and Victoria.“Barfoots’ purpose is to grow a sustainable business for the health of future generations and look for new and exciting ways for people to enjoy vegetables,” he explains.

“For us that is from how crops are grown to the social and economic stability of the communities where Barfoots grows, the development of the team to how the vegetables are processed and delivered to customers.“We continue to think strategically about navigating future risk such as working with seed partners on developing more robust crops to growing locations that enable more efficient natural resource management and continuing to invest in soil health and biodiversity initiatives. Barfoots is proud to be part of Waitrose’s Farming for Nature initiative.”

“We’re proud of our relationship over 30 years with Barfoots,” confirms Waitrose sustainability and ethics specialist Anna Draper. “They are committed to providing the best quality products while also farming in a nature friendly way,”

Awarded for his services to sustainability Peter Barfoot’s watchword “Look after the land like you are going to farm forever” becomes more prescient with every passing decade. www.barfoots.com, www.waitrose.com

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