With the school summer holidays drawing to a close and the August bank holiday behind us, many of us will be turning our attention to 2026 holidays and how to make the most of them with upcoming long weekends off. Each year the dates of eight bank holidays change with annual celebrations such as Easter not having a set day.

We still have two to go in 2025. The next bank holiday in England and Wales is Thursday, December 25 ( Christmas Day ), followed by Boxing Day - Friday, December 26. This means that the first bank holiday of 2026 will be New Year's Day, Thursday, January 1.

While this year's Easter bank holidays were in late April, next year Easter will be slightly earlier, with Good Friday falling on Friday, April 3, and Easter Monday on Monday, April 6, reports the Manchester E

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