Easter this year happened to coincide with the birthday of one of my children and the long weekend allowed us to meet up with some of the extended family in London to celebrate.

Easter this year happened to coincide with the birthday of one of my children and the long weekend allowed us to meet up with some of the extended family in London to celebrate.

The demands placed on the day were very clear: a ride round the London Eye, pizza overlooking the Thames and then a trip to Hamleys to blow the bank on Lego.

The queue for the London Eye was over an hour long, but well worth the experience on a crisp Sunday morning. The service at the pizza house was excellent, despite how crowded the restaurant was by midday. And Hamleys? Well, Hamleys was closed because current trading laws mean shops over 280 sq m are not allowed to open on Easter Sunday.

We knew all this already of course and had tried to explain to the children why the cafes, restaurants, attractions and museums were open but the shops shut. But to my seven year old it made very little sense.

In fact, I am not sure it made much sense to me either, particularly given that on the way to the train into Marylebone we were able to nip into a Tesco Express to buy snacks and drinks, simply because the square footage of this particular iteration of the UK’s largest retailer fell into what constitutes a small retailer.

Despite the icy weather, early numbers suggest UK footfall was up on last year’s Easter weekend, while London’s West End enjoyed a boost from international spenders on the days they were actually able to shop.

In this context, the crowds that descended on London on Sunday represent an enormous wasted opportunity
to deliver a further boost to the sector, particularly if they were indicative of people up and down the country looking for holiday entertainment.

But at a time when disposable income remains scarce, rivals in the entertainment and leisure sectors were able to enjoy a considerable advantage over retailers. Furthermore, no one asked the country’s growing number of online retailers to close the digital tills. And, I’ll be honest, we still broke the bank on Lego, only we did it via my phone, on the train, on the way home.

From business rates to the loopholes some international retailers can exploit in tax rules, retail is battling on an uneven playing field.

If this industry is to genuinely help lead an economic revival, the Government must act to end the disadvantages inherent in the archaic boundaries in which the sector has to operate.