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I know I touched on this subject a couple of weeks ago, but it’s worth revisiting after the double bank holiday weekend, just to make sure the world hasn’t come to an end, and the four horsemen of the apocalypse aren’t wreaking mayhem down the A52.

Because, come bank holiday weekend, come the doom mongers. It’s a familiar tale, and one that might hold some weight, of course. It’s hard to argue with the numbers.

Figures from the Department of Business estimate that the extra bank holiday will cost the economy £2.9bn. With four days of bank holidays close together and SMEs employing more than 59.8 per cent of the private sector workforce and contributing to more than 49 per cent of UK turnover (Source: Federation of Small Businesses) this could result in an estimated £6-7bn in costs over the four days (over half the estimated costs of hosting the London 2012 Olympics) - not to mention the potential losses from people bridging over the two long weekends with annual leave.

The Federation of Small Businesses has been ranting and raving for as long as I’ve been a journalist, and sometimes with good cause. Bank Holidays can be very costly for small businesses with many more likely to stop trading on these days and despite making no profits will find themselves paying staff for the time off.

Jim Venables, who runs officebroker.com, which provides an online search facility for office space throughout the East Midlands, even set up a website called ‘Keep Britain Moving’.

He said: “What struck a chord with me as a business owner, is that during the months running-up to and following the election, we heard rallying calls from politicians that it was SMEs that would be the key to restructuring and strengthening the UK economy going forward – any reality of which is now being undermined by reckless and un-grounded interventions such as the “granting” of an additional bank holiday.

“I do wish the young couple well, I really do – but I also have to ask why our ‘business savvy’ government allowed the wedding to take place on a Friday and subsequently bring UK businesses to a grinding halt?"

Venables says that in his company alone we would expect to lose £50,000 in revenue alongside the added expense of paying the wages of over 80 staff.

He added: “While I acknowledge a few businesses will see a short-term spike in wedding related profits, profits which would have been just as accessible if the Royal Wedding had taken place on a Saturday – as the rest of us are forced to do through outright practicality – the truth is that the vast majority of UK businesses will suffer damaging and in some unfortunate cases fatal losses.

Dramatically, he finishes: “So to Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne I say this: While the wedding bells may be ringing for William and Kate, it could be the funeral drum beating for UK businesses.”

Thing is, the people I talked to over both the bank holiday weekends expressed an interest in working less hours, rather than more. And I’m not talking factory workers here; I’m talking those people who sit out in parks in leafy West Bridgford – managers, directors, business owners.

They were all enjoying a three-day week. They knew they’d worked hard before the bank holidays to ensure their businesses would run well during the shutdown, and they knew they’d have to work hard when they came back.

Seems to me that a happy and contented worker is better than one chained to the desk whilst the sun beats down. But then that might be why I’m not the managing director of one of the UK’s largest office search websites…