St George’s Day is back this Thursday for households in England to come together and celebrate.

The annual day sees events held across England every year as English men and women honour the patron saint of England on the anniversary of his death in 303 AD.

While it probably doesn’t get as much attention as St Patrick’s Day over in Ireland, St David’s Day in Wales or St Andrew’s Day in Scotland, each year services are held in churches for St George’s Day, and events are usually held in Trafalgar Square.

These are the St George’s day events, rules and key dates as well as the call for a bank holiday.

St George’s Day will be held on April 23, 2026. However, the date is not always set in stone and can be moved.

In 2025, the date was changed due to Easter. According to church rules, any saint’s day which falls in Holy or Easter week must be moved to the week after the Easter fortnight, usually the first Monday.

So in 2025, St George’s Day was transferred from Wednesday, April 23, to Monday, April 28.

This year, there was no such issue and the date is confirmed for Thursday, April 23.

St George’s Day is still not a bank holiday, despite repeated calls to make it one.

Back in 2017, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested the UK should get four new bank holidays, one for each patron saint of the four constituent nations, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Campaigners for a St George’s Day on April 23 bank holiday have previously argued that the UK has fewer bank holidays per year than other major industrialised nations, with the average across European Union countries being 11.

Asked about the policy in 2024, leader of the opposition at the time Keir Starmer said that a new bank holiday for St George’s Day would not be possible due to ‘the economy’, while then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declined to commit to one either.

Sir Keir told the BBC at the time: “A bank holiday would be very nice but I think that, with the economy where it is at the moment, we have to celebrate in-and-around the work that we’re doing, because we need to absolutely take our country forward.

“What I want to do, if we’re privileged enough to come into government, is to have a government of service to the country and have a decade of national renewal – and that would fulfil St George’s Day’s promise.”

Flag laws have been the centre of much attention in the past few years, after pro-flag protests broke out on the streets following the removal of Union Jack flags from a street in Birmingham.

Flag rules and laws for St George’s Day are no different to any other time of year. It is legal to fly the flag of St George, known as St George’s Cross, from your house or your car, but there are some caveats.

Flags can be put on the roof of your house without any planning permission needed, but if flown from a pole – such as a flagpole in your garden – they cannot be larger than two metres squared.

The Government says in recent years it has relaxed the rules on flying flags, not just the Union Jack, but also the flags of England, Wales, Ireland and indeed any national flag at all as it wants to see more flags flown in general.

The rules for flying a flag on a roof are very open. The government says certain flags can be flown from rooftops of any size, provided they meet certain conditions.

However, if you’re flying the flag on a flagpole ‘projecting from any part of the building other than the roof’, the flag cannot be larger than two metres squared in size.

Consent is required if you live in a controlled area, too, such as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Those who fail to comply with the rules could be reported and, ultimately, fined up to £2,500 for refusing to obey a request from your local council to remove an oversized flag.

It isn’t legal to fly the England flag from public spaces like street lights, lamp posts or on roundabouts, as this is in contravention of local council laws which prohibit anything being displayed in public-owned areas without permission, and also is against the Highways Code, which restricts anything being put up on roads which could distract drivers.

However, not all councils have chosen to enforce the law, with some removing flags from streetlights and others allowing them to stay in place.

St George’s Day began as the feast day of Saint George, celebrated by Christian churches not just in England, but also in communities in countries including Georgia (which has a very similar national flag to England, with the red St George’s Cross), Spain, Albania, Palestine and Greece. According to legend, St George slayed a dragon and was revered as a patron saint in England.

According to legend, St George slew a dragon, and he is revered as a patron saint in England. St George’s Day, also called the Feast of St George, is a feast day for countries and Christian churches around the world.

King Edward III made St George the Patron Saint of England when he formed the Order of the Garter in St. George’s name in 1350. Despite not being from the country, St George was considered somebody who embodied characteristics the kingdom wanted to project to the outside world.