{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/shops-act-1950-repealed-1121994/section-74",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/shops-act-1950-repealed-1121994/section-74.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/Geo6/14/28",
  "legislation_title": "Shops Act 1950 (repealed 1.12.1994)",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/shops-act-1950-repealed-1121994",
  "path": "section/74",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "74",
  "heading": "Interpretation.",
  "text": "(1) In this Act, save where the context otherwise requires—\n“bank holiday” includes any public holiday or day of public rejoicing or mourning;\n“butcher’s meat” means beef, mutton, veal, lamb or pork (including livers, heads, feet, hearts, lights, kidneys or sweetbreads), whether fresh, chilled, frozen or salted, and includes Kosher meat;\n“closing order” has the meaning assigned to it by section eight of this Act;\n“contravention”, in relation to any provision, includes any failure to comply with that provision;\n“early closing day” means as respects a shop, the day on which the shop is required to be closed for the serving of customers not later than one o’clock in the afternoon in pursuance of section 1 of this Act and the Shops (Early Closing Days) Act 1965;\n“enactment” includes any Act, and any rule, regulation, bye-law or order made under any Act;\n“factory” has the same meaning as in the Factories Act 1961;\n“general closing hours” means the hours fixed by or under section two of this Act or the hours substituted therefor by or under any other provision of this Act;\n“Kosher meat” means butchers’ meat killed and prepared by the Jewish ritual method;\n“local authority” has the meaning assigned to it by the last foregoing section;\n“owner”, in relation to any premises, has the same meaning as in the Public Health Act, 1936;\n“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made under section sixty-nine of this Act;\n“Public Health Acts” means the Public Health Act, 1936, . . .\n“residential hotel” means premises used for the reception of guests and travellers desirous of dwelling or sleeping therein;\n“retail trade or business” includes the business of a barber or hairdresser, the sale of refreshments or intoxicating liquors, the business of lending books or periodicals when carried on for purposes of gain, and retail sales by auction, but does not include the sale of programmes and catalogues and other similar sales at theatres and places of amusement;\n“sanitary authority” means, save as respects London, the council of a borough or urban or rural district, and as respects London, the sanitary authority for the purposes of the Public Health (London) Act, 1936;\n“shop” includes any premises where any retail trade or business is carried on;\n“shop assistant” means any person wholly or mainly employed in a shop in connection with the serving of customers or the receipt of orders or the despatch of goods;\n“theatre” includes any place used for film exhibitions (within the meaning of the Cinemas Act 1985) and any music hall or other similar place of entertainment; and “performance” has a corresponding meaning;\n“week” means the period between midnight on Saturday night and midnight on the succeeding Saturday night;\n. . . . . .\n“wholesale shop” means premises occupied by a wholesale dealer or merchant where goods are kept for sale wholesale to customers resorting to the premises;\n. . . . . .\n“working hours” means the time during which the persons employed are at the disposal of the employer, exclusive of any intervals allowed for rest and meals; and “hours worked” has a corresponding meaning;\n. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(3) Any reference in this Act to any enactment shall, except where the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended by any subsequent enactment.",
  "extent": "E+W+S",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Definition inserted by Shops (Early Closing Days) Act 1965 (c. 35), s. 3"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words substituted by virtue of Factories Act 1961 (c. 34), Sch. 6 para. 1"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Definitions of “owner”, “Public Health Acts” and “sanitary authority” repealed by Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963 (c. 41, SIF 43:3), s. 91(4), Sch. 2 which repeal remains prospective in relation to certain premises in a covered market as referred to in art. 2 of S.I. 1964/191"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "Words repealed by Shops (Early Closing Days) Act 1965 (c. 35), s. 3"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "Words substituted by virtue of Cinematograph (Amendment) Act 1982 (c. 33, SIF 45A), s. 10(1), Sch. 1 para. 6 and Cinemas Act 1985 (c. 13, SIF 45A), s. 24(1), Sch. 2 para. 5"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F6",
      "text": "Definition repealed by Shops (Early Closing Days) Act 1965 (c. 35), s. 3"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F7",
      "text": "Definition repealed by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1974 (c. 22), Sch. Pt. X"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F8",
      "text": "Words repealed by Employment Act 1989 (c. 38, SIF 43:1), s. 29(4), Sch. 7 Pt. II"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F9",
      "text": "S. 74(2) repealed by Employment Act 1989 (c. 38, SIF 43:1), s. 29(4), Sch. 7 Pt. II"
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M1",
      "text": "1965 c. 35."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M2",
      "text": "1961 c. 34."
    },
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C1",
      "text": "The text of the definitions of “owner”, “Public Health Acts” and “sanitary authority” in s. 74 is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and except as indicated does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/14/28/section/74",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T11:18:55.840337+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}