Boomers and bank holidays: are there any extra days off older Britons would support?

And are British attitudes unique when compared to other Western European countries?

With England through to the semi-finals of the 2026 World Cup, Keir Starmer has dangled the tantalising possibility of a celebratory bank holiday in England should the Three Lions beat Argentina and subsequently Spain to lift the trophy on Sunday night.

A YouGov poll last week found that 54% of people in England think there should be a bank holiday should the men’s team emerge victorious, compared to 34% who say they should not.

Aside from a reluctance from people in Wales and Scotland for a freebie day off in England (with 32% of Scots having told us they actively want England to do badly in the World Cup), there is also opposition from the older generations: while 63% of the under-50s say there should be a bank holiday, this falls to just 28% among the over-65s.

This is hardly the first time that our polling has found older people unwilling to get behind a day off for most of their working-age counterparts.

Indeed, across 12 similar ‘ad hoc’ bank holiday questions from the YouGov archives since 2013, there are only three where the over-65s tend to be pro- rather than anti- the extra day off: about making St George’s Day a bank holiday (54% are in favour), to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day (74%), and 86% likewise said it was a good idea to have a bank holiday for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral (although note that this question was asked after the holiday had been announced, which may have influenced responses relative to all the other examples, which were hypotheticals).

In virtually all cases, the oldest Britons are the most opposed to a bank holiday for the occasion listed. By the same token, we have yet to poll an occasion that the youngest adults think unworthy of a day off.

However, while some social media users have, in response to our previous polls, suggested that British boomers may be unique killjoys, a YouGov survey from 2024 shows that this is not the case.

Asked at the time of the 2024 Olympics whether there should be a national holiday if their team performs outstandingly well (winning the most medals and most golds), across all countries we see the same trend of opposition to the extra bank holiday growing with age. The main exception is Italy, where this trend levels out after the youngest age group.

It also shows that the Britons are typically among the most enthusiastic about having an extra bank holiday – it is not clear the extent to which this reflects esteem for the Olympics in the UK, or perhaps the relatively measly 8 public holidays in England & Wales relative to the other countries surveyed (which can range between 9 and 14 by country and region).

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Photo: Getty