Bank Holiday May 28- what to expect?

" What should I expect for the holiday? "
The clue is in the name "bank holiday", banks, schools and offices etc will be closed but everything else should be open, shops and transport may run to a Sunday schedule.
https://www.visitlondon.com/traveller-information/essential-information/public-holidays

Smaller stores will be closed, larger stores may well be open, although for a shorter time. Most restaurants and tourist attractions will be open. Be careful as there are often rail reconstruction works over bank holiday weekends - check with Virgin Trains East Coast to see if they are affected.

Train services are often shutdown over bank holidays as Philip said, do check or move your travel day to Tuesday to be sure. Most other things are open as usual.

What should I expect for the holiday?

Rain.

Or Crowds, if it isn't

And a photo in the Sun or more likely on the cover of the Sun, of one, two or several female peoples eating ice-creams on Brighton beach if it is sunny.

And they will give the temperature in Fahrenheit because it sounds hotter.

Well, it looks like I’m spending 2 nights in York instead of the 3 nights I planned. I’ve been waiting for weeks to book my train ticket on Virgin East Coast only to find out there’s none scheduled so far. I can book my return ticket but not my outbound ticket for the 28th. And I have all my hotels booked as well. Curses! Shaking my fists at the sky!

You can’t find trains for the last weeks of May yet because they have not been loaded to the system - although Virgin sometimes load their fares further ahead. Go to www.nationalrail.co.uk and put in the KGX > YRK in May. You will see that where the fares / schedules are loaded, that the background is a darker grey. (2 other companies also operate the route = Grand Central / Hull Trains but it is Virgin who run most of the trains on this line).

James- Virgin has the last week of May released but no schedule for the 28th. I tried the national rail website as well and the last week of May is still light gray. I even emailed Virgin customer service and I got a standard response that was no help. I think they’re being deluged with calls because of the crazy weather you’re having right now. Is it possible that no trains run on spring bank holiday? In the meantime, I booked an extra night in my London hotel just in case I can’t get a train out on the 28th. I have theater tickets booked for the 31st and 1st so I can’t extend my stay in York on that side.

Claudette, the Virgin website states that they only have weekend travel loaded through May 25th. They have weekday travel through August.

The National Express busses have their schedule out. I’ll wait a couple of weeks more for the train schedule to come out but at least now I have a way of gettting to York. 5 hrs on the bus vs 2 on the train and hopefully I’ll see some beautiful scenery.

I am also arriving in London on May 28th and I was going to start a thread with basically the same name!

I will be staying until 10 June. I understand there's a whole week of holiday for schools so what will be crowded in London that week? I was thinking the day I get there to take it easy and maybe go to Hyde Park and/or the Portabello Market (since I'm close to the Bayswater tube). Is there anything special that happens in London on that day or week?

Any advice is welcome!

In general, Monday isn't the day for the Portobello Road market; perhaps it's different on bank holiday Mondays?

There isn't a holiday for a whole week, just on that Monday.

Sorry, yes, the week beginning on May 28th will be a school holiday. Attractions with special attraction to children (London Transport Museum, Natural History Museum, etc.), may be more crowded than usual, but it won't be too bad.

It is closed on Bank Holidays! It's so different from the U.S. when other countries actually take a break on holidays!
It looks like Saturday morning I need to set aside to visit the market.

Claudette, my husband and I are also planning to travel on May 28. Made all my arrangements before finding out it is a Bank Holiday. I've been watching train schedules, and found out on this forum that there are websites you can go to who will send you an alert when the tickets for your specific travel dates go on sale. I used Loco2.com and it works quite well.

I just went ahead and booked a bus ticket using National Express. It will take 5 hours to get to York. The good thing is it leaves from
Victoria Coach station which is a 5 minute walk from my hotel so I don’t have to make my way to Kings Cross station to catch the train.

5+hrs on a bus vs. 2hrs on a train - an unusual choice

5+hrs on a bus vs. 2hrs on a train - an unusual choice

Indeed. I’d be waiting for train tix to be available, although BH Monday can be a tricky day if there’s engineering work. The scenery tends to be much better from the train too, as routes go through the countryside often. Whereas buses, you’re stuck on ugly main roads with a view of tarmac and traffic. Plus you’re at the mercy of traffic hold-ups.

Late May Bank Holiday Monday has some of the worse traffic on the roads for the whole year. Budget for the National Express coach to be caught up in some or much of it and allow plenty of extra time. It is too bad that you chose that over the train on that day.

Unusual choice? I just felt I really didn’t have much of a choice as I wanted to book my transport to York asap. The bus ticket was $25 so if they release the train tickets I may just ditch the bus and take the train. I actually thought I would have better scenery on a bus as we go through towns. Thought it would be similar to riding the bus in Ireland.

I checked and they released the train tickets for the 28th. I have decisions to make!

The National Express coach will wend its way through West London, via Westway and the North Circular. It then goes along the whole length or so of the M1 motorway to the centre of Leeds, with a minor diversion off at j14 to pick people up at Milton Keynes. Then onto York via the A64. None of this route is particularly interesting.

I vote for the train. I've taken it numerous times.(The London to Edinburgh run but it stops in York.) I think trains are way more comfortable than buses. YMMV.

A 'Bank Holiday' is simply a public holiday and, as others have mentioned, while most people get the day off, shops etc remain open.

It will be busy almost everywhere so allow for some difficulty travelling and parking. Otherwise, you should be OK. Another point worth mentioning is that weekends that sit next to a public holiday will be busier than 'normal' weekends, though May isn't peak season.

I recommend avoiding seaside towns or major tourist sites such as theme parks. When we lived in the UK, we twice decided to turn around and go back home when the traffic jams getting to places were more than we could stomach. One was a south coast seaside town, the other was Windermere, in the Lake District.