Coming up

What to post for the early May bank holiday

The first May bank holiday is the starting gun for outdoor trade. Whoever says 'summer starts here' first is the place people picture.

Mon 3 May 2027the date 218 days to gofrom today 12 daysthe run-up
Pick your days and we write your own guide. Your first plan is free.
The run-up

Every day between now and then that is worth a post

Not one a day. These are the ones that do a job. What each is for is underneath it.

Wed 21 Apr 12 days before Call the start of the season Be first to say it, 'the garden's open', 'tables outside from this weekend'. Whoever plants that flag first becomes the summer place in people's heads. Write this one →
Sun 25 Apr 8 days before Show the outdoor version of you The beer garden set up, the pavement tables out, the planters going in. People need to see the summer version before they'll choose it. Write this one →
Wed 28 Apr 5 days before Give them a wet-weather plan A long weekend rises and falls on the forecast, so post the rainy-day version too: inside is cosy, the roast is on. Certainty pulls people either way. Write this one →
Sat 1 May 2 days before Say your long-weekend hours One plain post of your hours across the three days. Half of catching bank-holiday trade is simply being findable and clearly open. Write this one →
Mon 3 May The day Get them out in the sun On the day, push the outdoor option hard, the pavement table, the beer garden, the sunny corner. The first real warmth of the year does most for people who are actually out in it. Write this one →
The idea most businesses miss

Grab the free moment with both hands

Jay Conrad Levinson wrote Guerrilla Marketing for businesses with more time than money: win with energy and timing, not budget. A bank holiday is a gift to a guerrilla, a ready-made reason to post, costing nothing, that the whole town is already thinking about. Move first and loudest and you get the attention the big spenders pay for.

Jay Conrad Levinson, who coined guerrilla marketing for small businesses · Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business, Houghton Mifflin, 1984

Questions

The questions people ask

Bank holidays are quiet for me. Why bother?
Because everyone's off and hunting for something to do. If you're not in the running that morning, you've handed the whole day to whoever did post.
What if the weather's awful?
Post the indoor plan with the same confidence as the sunny one. 'Rained off? we've saved you the good table' turns a washout into a reason to come in.
I'm a trade, not hospitality.
The first warm weekend is when people decide to sort the garden, the decking, the outside jobs. A 'booking summer work now' post lands right on that thought.

The other dates worth the effort

Mon 31 May 2027 Spring bank holiday 246 days to go It's half-term as well as a bank holiday, a whole week of parents needing somewhere to take restless kids. Be the easy plan, not the effort. 5 posts to make → Sun 28 Mar 2027 Easter 182 days to go Easter is a four-day weekend, not a Sunday. It's easy to post just once, on the day, but the trade is spread across all four. 6 posts to make → Everything else The whole calendar The rest of this year and all of next, with the British ones in the right place. Open the calendar →