The largest consumer spending day each year in the US is the day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday. What is it in the UK?

zbeckabee

I believe in the UK, just as in the U.S., that the honor now goes to the Saturday before Christmas. Nov 25 06, 8:38 PM

star_gazer

In just under two weeks, most of us will be trying to recover from too much turkey, stuffing, and pecan pie. But many of us -- usually the more hardy females of our species -- will be hitting the stores early in the morning for the best deals of the season. Yes, two weeks from today is (ominous music goes here) Black Friday, typically the biggest shopping day of the year. http://www.blackfriarsinc.com/blog/2006/11/time-to-plan-that-black-friday.html Nov 25 06, 9:21 PM

ephe	While [Black Friday] is a busy shopping day, other days leading up to December 25th tend to see greater consumer spending. As for the UK I believe a day called Boxing Day (December 26th) to be their 'Black Friday'. Nov 26 06, 12:52 AM

zbeckabee

"Black Friday" is the name given to the last Friday before Christmas in the United Kingdom. It is a day when widespread anti-social behaviour due to public alcohol consumption is expected to occur, and police are given additional powers to combat it Nov 26 06, 10:26 AM

Baloo55th

It may be called that by the ambulance service and A & E in some parts of the UK, but I've never heard that one - and I used to be a hackney carriage driver. I've never heard of the police in general being given special powers for that day, either. You may know something I don't, though... But I've never seen or heard of any widespread anti-social behaviour around that time - or on New Year's Eve either. Nov 26 06, 1:28 PM

Baloo55th

Just read ephe's post - same applies to Boxing Day. It's not a bad day. Some of this stuff comes from the sensational end of the press (Sun, Star and such comics) picking up on a bad day somewhere and generalising, followed by this being picked up internationally in the same way the Chinese Government and the Christian fundamentalists picked up on articles in The Onion without checking out. It only takes one headline 'Black Friday' to be picked up and a whole new legend is born. Nov 26 06, 1:40 PM

zbeckabee

In the retail business...the "BLACK" part of Black Friday is assumed to be a good thing as it is based on the theory that it is the first time all year that the retailer is in the black versus the red. Here's a 2004 article regarding police and Black Friday. http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=edponline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED20%20Dec%202004%2008%3A31%3A55%3A933 Nov 26 06, 2:22 PM

Baloo55th

That's sort of what I was referring to. Only in this article, someone is trying to make a point rather than scandalise up sales. The date is 20th December, but the author refers to 'every Friday and Saturday night' not to the last Friday before Christmas in particular. Sure, every Friday and Saturday night there are some idiots that get bladdered. It's not a mass riot, it's not just before Christmas, it's not even everywhere every weekend. On the night referred to there were six arrests. This is a city of 121,000 population, and the centre of a large predominantly rural area with many smaller places that feed into Norwich for cultural events, and clubbing as well. We're not talking Chicago size here. We are talking a fair catchment area. We're also talking political point-making... Nov 26 06, 4:23 PM