Is today a bank holiday? Meaning behind May Day explained and how many UK holidays there are this month

May 2023 has a bumper crop of bank holidays, thanks to an additional day off to mark the coronation of King Charles III.

It all gets started on 1 May, with the first of the long weekends coinciding with the traditional festival of May Day.

Here’s why we have a bank holiday today, the key dates for the rest of the month and what it means for things like Royal Mail post and shop opening times.

Is today a bank holiday?

Monday 1 May is a marked as a bank holiday across the whole of the UK – it has been a formal national holiday since 1978.

Thanks to the additional day off for the King’s coronation, there are three long weekends this month, rather than the traditional two.

The Government confirmed in November that the whole of the UK would get a bank holiday to celebrate the crowning of Charles III on Monday 8 May, two days after the ceremony in Westminster Abbey.

There will then be an additional nationwide day off on Monday 29 May for the spring bank holiday.

This generally falls on the final Monday of May across the UK – however, last year it was moved to later in the week to sit alongside the Platinum Jubilee bank holiday and create a four-day weekend.

What is May Day?

The early May bank holiday has its origins in May Day celebrations, which are rooted in ancient traditions.

In Roman times the festival of Flora, the goddess of flowers and spring, took place at this time of year, while Celts celebrated the festival of Beltane.

The latter marked the halfway point between spring and summer, mirroring the Pagan festival of Samain, which falls between autumn and winter.

May Day celebrations today retain many of the old customs which were part of its inception.

Across the UK, people still like to dress up, paint their faces in a colourful fashion, and dance around to music and song as they celebrate the spring.

The day is also associated with dancing around a maypole, a custom whose precise origins remain uncertain.

It has been proposed that the pole originally had some importance in the Germanic paganism of Iron Age and early Medieval cultures, and to some extent survived the “Christianisation” of Europe.

Studies have found that the maypole was a more common practice in many parts of Europe throughout the Medieval and Early Modern periods, but became less popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.

What time are shops open today?

The bank holiday will bring some disruption to supermarket opening times:

• Tesco: The majority of big stores will be open from 8am to 6pm while some may stay open until 8pm, and all Tesco Express stores will be open as usual – you can check your nearest shop here.
• Sainsbury’s: All Sainsbury’s big stores will be open between 8am and 8pm on the bank holiday Monday – you can find your local branch here.
• Aldi: Aldi stores will open as usual on Saturday and Sunday, but on Monday they will close slightly earlier at 8pm – you can check your local branch here.
• Morrisons: On bank holiday Monday Morrisons stores will open at the normal time but will close earlier, at 8pm – find your local branch here.
• Asda: Asda’s stores will also close slightly earlier at 8pm on the bank holiday Monday – you can check your supermarket here.
• Co-op: Co-Op’s stores will be open as usual over the bank holidays in May, with a spokesperson telling The Sun it would allow customers to “pick up everything they need for the long weekends” – find your local branch here.
• Waitrose: On Monday most Waitrose & Partners shops will be open for their normal hours, but you can check your local branch here.

Is there post today?

The Royal Mail says: “We deliver and collect your mail on most days of the year, including Saturdays. However, we don’t usually deliver or collect on bank and public holidays.”

Because of this, there will be no postal collections or deliveries around the UK on Monday 1 May.

Most post offices will be closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday – to find the details of your local branch’s opening times over the bank holiday weekend, you can use the postcode checker here.