Christmas and New Year 2026 for a pub or restaurant: the bank holiday on Monday 28 December, the notice deadlines and the deposit rule

Boxing Day falls on Saturday 26 December 2026, so the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December 2026. The first festive deadline comes much earlier: a Temporary Event Notice for a party on Friday 18 December has to reach the council by Thursday 3 December. This page puts the whole run on one dated list for one pub.

Licensing and bank holiday dates here are for England and Wales.

Free tool

Christmas 2026 closure and bank holiday notice to staff maker

Fill in the day you close, what your contracts pay on bank holidays and when the rota goes up. The notice tells staff which days pay extra and works out the last day to give notice of the closure.

Which letterEmail to staffNotice for the staff board Venue name Day the venue is closed and staff take holidayOne day. The notice must be given at least two calendar days before it. Days your contracts pay extraA clause that says 'bank holidays' covers these three days and not Saturday 26 December. A clause that names Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day covers the Saturday and not the Monday. Rate the contract pays on those daystime and a halfdouble timethe normal hourly rateThe law sets no higher rate for a bank holiday shift. Use what the contract says. Date the festive rota will be posted Date for staff to say which days they cannot work Date December's tips will be paidTips taken in December 2026 must reach staff by 31 January 2027, which is a Sunday. Your name and role

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• Read the bank holiday clause in each contract first and change the days and the rate to match it. The defaults are an example.
• The bank holiday dates are for England and Wales.
• The closure paragraph is written for one day. For a longer closure the notice must be at least twice its length in calendar days.
• Send it before the rota goes up and keep a copy with the date.

The rule this rests on: GOV.UK, UK bank holidays and Holiday entitlement; Acas, Bank holidays and Christmas: an employer can require holiday to be taken with notice of at least twice its length. A draft to check and adapt, not legal advice.

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The example pub

A 60-cover pub with a function room and 14 staff. Its licence allows alcohol until midnight. It wants to run until 1am for a works party on Friday 18 December and on Christmas Eve, and until 2am on New Year's Eve. It closes on Christmas Day and opens on Boxing Day.

The dates on one list

The count for Christmas Eve: the 10 clear working days are Thursday 10 December to Wednesday 23 December, so the notice must be in on Wednesday 9 December. Our Temporary Event Notice guide works the New Year's Eve date and explains the late notice.

Three notices cost 3 × £21 = £63. Each event passes midnight, so each uses two days. Five of the six days fall in 2026 and count towards that year's limit of 21. The sixth is 1 January, which counts in 2027.

We found no national extension of hours for New Year's Eve. On 1 October 2026 legislation.gov.uk listed three licensing hours orders made in 2026, all for the FIFA World Cup.

Bank holidays, pay and the rota

GOV.UK says bank holidays do not have to be given as paid leave, and that an employer can count them as part of the 5.6 weeks of statutory holiday. Acas says whether a worker has to work on a bank holiday is up to the employer. Neither page sets a higher rate for a bank holiday shift, so the rate is what the contract says.

Read the contract's words against this year's calendar. On a plain reading, a clause that pays time and a half "on bank holidays" covers Friday 25 December, Monday 28 December and Friday 1 January, and does not cover Saturday 26 December. A clause that names "Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day" covers the Saturday and not the Monday. Tell staff which applies before the rota goes up.

The cost of the premium on Monday 28 December, for six staff working 8 hours each at the £12.71 National Living Wage:

• hours: 6 × 8 = 48
• at the plain rate: 48 × £12.71 = £610.08
• at time and a half: £610.08 × 1.5 = £915.12
• the premium: £915.12 − £610.08 = £305.04

Employer NI, pension and holiday accrual come on top, and our rota cost calculator adds them.

Two more rules from the Acas page:

• A worker who works a bank holiday must still get the full 5.6 weeks as paid time off.
• If the pub shuts on Christmas Day and wants staff who usually work Fridays to take it as holiday, it must say so in the contract or give notice. The notice is at least twice the length of the leave, in calendar days: two days for one day.

A late finish also sets the next start. With 11 hours' rest between working days, someone who locks up at 1:30am after the party on 18 December should not start again before 12:30pm that Saturday. Our pub and bar staff rota template has the checks.

Deposits for party bookings

The Competition and Markets Authority's guide to writing a fair contract, updated on 22 July 2026, says a deposit you keep must take into account what the business will actually lose. It lists as unlikely to be fair a term that makes a prepayment non-refundable whatever the customer's reason, and a charge on a customer who cancels when you could reasonably cut the loss by reselling. It says a deposit may be kept in full if it is no more than a small percentage of the price and the customer was told when it stops being refundable.

For the works party, 30 guests at £45 a head is £1,350. A deposit of £10 a head is £300, which is 22% of the bill. Write three things beside it:

1. The date final numbers are due, and that the deposit comes off the final bill.
2. That the deposit is returned if the party cancels and the room is booked again.
3. What a late cancellation costs, tied to the food ordered and the staff booked.

Our function enquiry reply and quote template has wording for all three.

December's tips

The statutory code on tips says they must reach staff by the end of the month after the month the customer paid them. Tips and service charges taken in December 2026 are due by Sunday 31 January 2027. A pub that pays by bank transfer should send the money by Friday 29 January.

What to do this week

1. List every date that runs past the licence hours and work each notice date back.
2. Read the bank holiday clause in each contract and tell staff which days pay extra.
3. Put the deposit terms on the party booking form.
4. Diary the tips payment for the last working day of January.

Overlyft can set up an AI assistant that keeps these dates in a venue's compliance diary for a manager to act on.

This is general information, not legal advice.