A new year means new bank holidays are on the horizon. Going into 2023, there will be an added bonus for everyone, with the announcement of an extra bank holiday to mark the King's Coronation. Britain has on average, eight public holidays a year, but in recent years, extra holidays have often been added to mark Royal events.
In 2022, bank holidays were moved to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, as well as added to allow people to observe her funeral.
With King Charles III's Coronation date being announced as Saturday, May 6, many people had wondered if there would be an extra bank holiday to mark the occasion. In 1953, when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned, June 2 was named "Coronation Day" and a bank holiday was declared.
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On Sunday, November 6, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed there would be a bank holiday for the King's Coronation. It will take place on Monday, May 8, two days after the event, to avoid clashing with local elections in the previous week.
The first bank holiday in 2023 will be on Monday January 2 - a substitute day for New Year's Day, which also falls on a Sunday. There will then be no bank holiday until Good Friday, which falls on April 7 this year.
Here is a full list of all the confirmed bank holidays for 2023:
- Monday, 2 January - New Year's Day (substitute day)
- Friday, 7 April - Good Friday
- Monday, 10 April - Easter Monday
- Monday, 1 May - Early May bank holiday
- Monday, 8 May - Coronation bank holiday
- Monday, 29 May - Spring bank holiday
- Monday, 28 August - Summer bank holiday
- Monday, 25 December - Christmas Day
- Tuesday, 26 December - Boxing Day
Substitute days mark holidays that fall on the weekend, meaning the bank holiday skips forward to the next working day. Meanwhile, spring and summer bank holidays move dates each year depending on when the relevant Mondays fall in the calendar.
The first "bank holiday" was marked in 1871 when banker Sir John Lubbock extended the two common law holidays (Christmas Day and Good Friday) by an additional four days. Easter Monday, Whit Monday, the first Monday in August (now held at the end of the month), and Boxing Day were the new holidays. Whit Monday later became the Spring Bank Holiday. Bank holidays got their name because they frequently saw bank closures.
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