Tilburg city council has come up with a crafty way to get around the ban on Sunday shopping – by cramming the full year’s allowance into a short space of time.

The company court ruled early February that Tilburg does not have enough attractions to count as a tourist centre and city centre shops should therefore be restricted to 12 Sunday openings a year.

The case was brought by a collective of some 150 independent retailers, who say small shops are being forced to open on Sundays or lose business.

But now the city council has decided to use its allowance of Sundays in one block. This, officials say, will tide shopkeepers over until the upper house of parliament votes on new legislation to give councils a free hand on Sunday shopping. That vote is expected in April.