May is the only month in the UK calendar with two separate bank holidays, and 2026 is no exception: Monday 4 May and Monday 25 May, three weeks apart, both observed identically across all four nations.
The two dates
Early May Bank Holiday — Monday 4 May. Falls on the first Monday of the month every year. Its origins trace to International Workers’ Day (1 May) and 19th-century labour movement traditions, though today it functions as a general early-summer public holiday rather than a specifically commemorative one.
Spring Bank Holiday — Monday 25 May. Falls on the last Monday of May every year. It replaced the older, religiously-anchored Whitsun holiday (Whit Monday, tied to the Christian feast of Pentecost, which moves each year with Easter) when the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 fixed it to a set late-May date instead — trading a moveable religious observance for a predictable one.
Why there are two, three weeks apart
Unlike most other UK bank holidays, neither May date is tied to a specific historical event or saint’s day for its exact position — they exist primarily to break up the long stretch between Easter (early-to-mid April) and the Summer bank holiday (August), which would otherwise be nearly four months without a public holiday.
Regional consistency — a rare exception
Most UK bank holidays vary by nation somewhere in the calendar (Easter Monday, the Summer bank holiday, St Andrew’s Day, St Patrick’s Day). May is the exception: both 4 May and 25 May apply identically in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with no substitutions or local variants.
Planning around them
Both dates create a standalone three-day weekend rather than a longer break, since neither is adjacent to a second bank holiday. The Spring Bank Holiday typically overlaps with school half-term across most of England and Wales, making it the busier of the two for domestic travel and family bookings — worth factoring in if you’re planning around it.
For the full year’s calendar, see 2026 bank holidays UK; for the Spring Bank Holiday’s own history in more depth, see our dedicated Spring Bank Holiday guide.