How to Set Christmas Opening Hours on Google

Many people check Google before they set off for a coffee. If your profile still shows your normal hours on Boxing Day and you are closed, someone walks to a locked door. If it says you are closed when you are open, you lose the visit without knowing.

Google Business Profile lets you add special hours for single dates, such as Christmas Eve or New Year's Day. They show on Google Search and Maps for that day only, then your normal hours come back by themselves. This guide walks through setting them, then the other places your Christmas hours need to go.

The 2026 bank holidays to plan for

Christmas 2026 has an awkward shape, because Boxing Day falls on a Saturday.

• Thursday 24 December: Christmas Eve. Not a bank holiday, but many cafés close early.
• Friday 25 December: Christmas Day, bank holiday.
• Saturday 26 December: Boxing Day. Because it falls on a Saturday, the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December.
• Thursday 31 December: New Year's Eve. Not a bank holiday.
• Friday 1 January 2027: New Year's Day, bank holiday.
• Scotland only: 2 January is also a bank holiday. In 2027 it falls on a Saturday, so the bank holiday moves to Monday 4 January.

The substitute days catch people out. Plenty of customers will expect you to be open on Monday 28 December, and some will expect you to be closed. Whatever you decide, put it on Google.

Before you start, write your hours down for every day from 24 December to 2 January (or 4 January in Scotland), including the days that are normal. It is much quicker to enter them from a list.

How to add special hours on Google

Google changes the look of its menus from time to time, so the exact buttons may differ from what you see. The option you are looking for is always called Special hours.

From Google Search on a computer or phone

1. Sign in to the Google account that manages your business profile.
2. Search for your café's name, or "my business". Your profile appears with a panel of options for managing it.
3. Choose Edit profile, then look for Hours.
4. Find Special hours and choose to add a date.
5. Pick the date, then set the hours for that day, or mark it Closed.
6. Add the next date, and repeat for each day that differs from normal.
7. Save.

From the Google Maps app

1. Open Google Maps and sign in with the account that manages your profile.
2. Tap your profile picture, then look for your business profile.
3. Choose Edit profile, then Hours, then Special hours.
4. Add each date with its hours, or mark it closed, and save.

Tips while you are there

• Only add the days that differ. If you are open normal hours on 29 and 30 December, you do not need to add them. Some owners add them anyway, so Google shows the hours as confirmed for those dates.
• Add the bank holiday substitutes. Monday 28 December, and Monday 4 January if you are in Scotland, are the days owners most often forget.
• Do it early. Edits can take a while to appear, and Google sometimes reviews changes. Aim for the end of November or the first week of December.
• Check it afterwards. Search for your café from a phone where you are not signed in, look at the hours, and tap through to the dates you changed.
• Answer Google's prompts. Google sometimes asks owners to confirm holiday hours. If you have already added them, check that what it shows is right.

Update your delivery apps

If you take orders through Uber Eats, Deliveroo or Just Eat, each app has its own way to set holiday hours or close for a day. The menus differ between apps and change over time, so look in each app's store or restaurant settings for holiday hours, special hours or temporary closures.

Two things to check:

• Closed days are set as closed, so the app stops taking orders. A delivery order on a day you are shut means a refund and an unhappy customer.
• Short days have the right closing time, so orders do not keep coming in after you have started to clean down.

If you are unsure whether an app has picked up your change, look at your listing from a customer's account the day before.

Your website, social media and other listings

Customers look in more than one place. Update each one at the same time, so they all agree:

• Your website. Add a short note to the home page and the contact page, with the dates and hours. Take it down in January.
• Social media. Post your hours in early December, again the week before Christmas, and once more before New Year.
• Other listings. If you are on other directories or review sites, check whether they show hours, and update them too.
• Your phone message. If customers phone for bookings, a short recorded message with your hours saves calls.

Your window and counter sign

A sign in the window still matters. It is the first thing regulars see as they walk past, and it reminds people before the day itself.

You can make one for free with our Christmas opening hours poster maker. Type your café's name, add your logo, fill in your hours for each day from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day, and print an A4 or A5 poster. It works in your browser, and nothing you type is sent to us.

Put one in the window and one by the till, a couple of weeks before Christmas Eve. If you are selling gift cards this year, add a line about them too. Our guide to selling gift cards at Christmas has ideas for where else to mention them, and our free Christmas menu template helps with the festive menu.

How it works in Café QR

If you take orders through Café QR, check your ordering hours as well as Google.

• Ordering hours. In the dashboard you set the hours guests can order each day, in your own time zone. If you change them for the holiday weeks, note what they were, so you can put them back in January.
• The pause switch. On a day you are closed, or when you close early on Christmas Eve, you can pause ordering with one switch from the dashboard. Guests cannot place an order on your QR menu or online page until you switch it back on.
• TV menu boards. If you show your menu on a TV, each board can carry a scrolling strip for a short message, such as your Christmas hours. Christmas decorations for UK cafés come on and go off by date by themselves, and one switch turns them off. Menu boards are in the POS plan at £39 per venue a month, or the "Self-order kiosk" add-on at £5 a month.

One honest limit: scheduled ordering hours cannot yet run past midnight. If you stay open late on New Year's Eve, use the pause switch at last orders.

See how TV menu boards work.

Related reading

• Gift Cards for Cafés: How to Sell More This Christmas
• Free Christmas Menu Template for Cafés
• How to Get More Google Reviews for Your Restaurant
• Christmas Loyalty Offers for Cafés: Ideas and Plan