The Spare Hour, South Street (1998 – 2026)
Sold the extra hour from the clocks going back. Sold out last Sunday. Has nothing left until March.
An hourglass: the only stock The Spare Hour ever had. Photo: User:S Sepp, “Wooden hourglass 3”, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The Spare Hour, South Street’s most unusual shop, has closed after selling its entire stock last weekend.
The shop sold one product: the extra hour that people get when the clocks go back in October. Customers could buy it in advance and “spend it” at any time during the year. The most popular uses were lying in, finishing a crossword and “sitting in the car outside the house for a bit before going in”.
“Business was always seasonal,” said the owner. “You can only sell one hour a year per person. And people kept coming back in March asking for a refund when the clocks went forward. I had to explain it doesn’t work like that. They didn’t like it.”
Last week, the shop sold out entirely. “We had a queue round the block on Saturday,” the owner said. “Everyone wanted their hour. Then on Sunday it was gone, and I had nothing left to sell until next October.”
The shop briefly considered selling to Americans, whose clocks go back today, but could not work out the postage.
The Spare Hour is survived by a clock that is still an hour out and always will be.
The real story: US clocks change (BBC News)
Letters to the Editor
The views expressed are those of the reader, and frankly that's on them.
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I bought an hour there in 2008. Never used it. Is it still valid?
— Moira D., Letham, 1 November 2026 -
I used mine for a lie-in on a Monday. Best hour of my life, I’d buy ten if I could.
— Bill A., Methven, 1 November 2026
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