Here are a few things you need to know about Christmas in the UK/Reading, including retail, posting mail, and travel.
Christmas in the UK
Christmas celebrations in the UK typically last over the period of 24th December – Christmas Eve, until the 2nd January – New Year’s Day. Key dates being:
- 24th December – Christmas Eve
- 25th December – Christmas Day (UK Bank Holiday)
- 26th December – Boxing Day
- 28th December – Boxing Day (substitute day, UK Bank Holiday)
- 31st December – New Year’s Eve
- 1st January – New Year’s Day (UK Bank Holiday)
You can find out information on Bank Holidays on the gov.uk website.
Retail shops, restaurants and takeaways are normally open throughout this period, apart from Christmas Day, in which the majority of shops will be closed. Boxing day, bank holidays and New Year’s Day shops may also be closed, so it is good to check before you go to into town or try and order a takeaway. You can also make sure you are stocked up/finish Christmas shopping before Christmas to ensure you have everything you need.
In the UK Christmas is typically spent with family and involve lots of food. On Christmas day it is traditional to have a Roast dinner – turkey, pigs in blankets, sprouts, roast parsnips, stuffing, cranberry sauce followed by a Christmas pudding.
Food is a big part of Christmas – and a great way to celebrate and make something traditional – if you want to have a go at cooking some Christmas food, take a look on the BBC website/Tesco website for some recipe ideas.
Alternatively, you can have a Christmas dinner cooked for you. The University of Reading catering team are offering a free Christmas Lunch to all students who are staying in Reading on Christmas Day. The dinners will be available from 11:00 to 16:00 on Friday 25 December. To apply for a meal, please either book on the Home at Halls app, on the online form or online which will go live early this week. To find out more, check the University of Reading hospitality pages where information will be added shortly.
Traditions in the UK
Like many other countries, the UK has lots of traditions surrounding Christmas, here are a few you can find out more about:
- Crackers
- The Queen’s Speech
- Leaving a glass of sherry and a mince pie out for Father Christmas
- Christmas jumpers
- Mince Pies
- Pantomimes
- Christmas cards
- Decorations
- A walk on Christmas day
- Christmas films like ‘The Snowman’
- Whamageddon & Chrismas music
You can read about some of the Traditions over Christmas in this blog.
Royal Mails latest recommended posting dates
Posting your Christmas cards and presents – Beat the festive rush and get all your letters and parcels in the post on time.
Shop opening hours over Christmas
Shops will typically open right up until Christmas day, then close on the 25th December. It is good to check opening hours before visiting a shop – these are the opening hours for the Oracle leading up to Christmas:
- Monday December 21 – 9:30am-9pm
- Tuesday December 22 – 9:30am-9pm
- Wednesday December 23 – 9:30am-9pm
- Thursday December 24 (Christmas Eve) – 9am-5pm
- Friday December 25 (Christmas Day) – CLOSED
- Saturday December 26 (Boxing Day) – 9am-6pm
- Thursday December 31 (New Year’s Eve) – 9:30am-5pm
Shops can get very busy on the lead up to Christmas, so try to shop as early as possible, particularly for food – we recommend getting food, or getting food delivered at least a week before Christmas as supermarkets become busy, and delivery slots will fill up quickly.
You can find out Christmas opening times for Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Asda, Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons on the Get Reading website, or via the supermarket’s website.
Takeaways are also likely to be closed on Christmas Day, so make sure you check in advance and get some food shopping before the 25th December.
Travel – Reading Buses
If you need to travel around Reading this Christmas take a look at Reading buses Christmas timetables, for a general idea of what will be available see below:
- Christmas Eve (Thurs 24 Dec) Generally, most buses are normal service with an early finish around 7/8pm. This is except emerald 5 and 6, purple 17, claret 21 and yellow 26 which have extra buses until around 11pm.
- Christmas Day (Fri 25 Dec) No buses – all our employees will be having a well-earned rest!
- Boxing Day (Sat 26 Dec) Most services will have a special service based on their public holiday times. Buses will run from around 9am until around 6pm.
- Sun 27 Dec Most services will run to their Sunday timetables.
- Mon 28 Dec Most services will be on their public holiday timetables.
- Tues 29/Weds 30/Thurs 31 Dec Most services will run to their Saturday timetables. Some evening buses that are currently suspended due to Covid-19 will run for this evening only.
- Fri 1 Jan 2021 Most services will be on their public holiday timetables.
Trains and Christmas Travel GWR.
Taxis at Christmas can often be expensive, so if you need to book a taxi around this time, make sure you book in advance and get the cost of the journey beforehand. Taxis are likely to be closed on Christmas Day.
Campus Services and facilities
Over the Christmas closure from 22 December to 4 January, our halls of residence will remain open, with catering available if required and support for anyone who needs to self-isolate during this time.
Campus services and facilities, including the Library, study spaces, further catering outlets and student support services, will reopen as planned from 4 January, subject to the relevant government restrictions in place at the time.
Student Service Christmas opening hours.
Keep your eyes peeled for part 2 this week…anything you want to know? Leave us a message in the comments.