Celebrations marking the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee will continue into the early hours after it was confirmed pubs can open later for the special bank holiday weekend.
Revellers in England and Wales will be able to drink and socialise for an extra two hours, with licensing rules being relaxed for three nights in June.
The change will extend licensing hours from 11pm to 1am the following day on June 2, 3 and 4, Home Office minister Kit Malthouse said in a written statement to Parliament.
He said a licensing hours order, made under Section 172 of the Licensing Act 2003, will “celebrate the longest reigning monarch in the United Kingdom”.
He said an impact assessment is being prepared and will be published alongside the order.
EMBARGOED TO 0001 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 11 File photo dated 26/11/14 of a pint of beer and a set of car keys on a bar in a pub. Almost one-and-a-half billion fewer pints were sold in British pubs in 2021 than in 2019, according to data from the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA). Issue date: Friday February 11, 2022.
Philip Toscano
Among the events planned to mark the Queen’s 70 years on the throne are a live concert featuring some of the world’s biggest stars, a service of thanksgiving and a day at the races.
On Sunday June 5, the Platinum Jubilee Pageant will be staged in London and feature more than 5,000 people from across the UK and Commonwealth.
It will take place against the backdrop of Buckingham Palace and surrounding streets, combining street arts, theatre, music and circus.
Past national events that have seen the Government push back closing time for pubs include the 2011 and 2018 royal weddings, the Queen’s 90th birthday in 2016, and the Fifa World Cup in 2014.
FILE PHOTO: Britain's Queen Elizabeth leaves after a Service of Thanksgiving to mark the Centenary of the Royal British Legion at Westminster Abbey, London, Britain October 12, 2021. Frank Augstein/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
POOL
Souvenirs featuring the official Platinum Jubilee emblem have gone on sale.
The range from the Royal Collection includes a fine English bone china coffee mug for ÂŁ15, an ÂŁ8.95 tea-towel, and a shopping bag made from recycled plastic bottles, also ÂŁ8.95.
Other items include a reusable water bottle for ÂŁ9.95, a ÂŁ4.95 keyring, an umbrella for ÂŁ12.95, and, in the age of a pandemic, a bottle of Platinum Jubilee hand sanitiser for ÂŁ3.95.
Each features the Jubilee emblem created by 19-year-old graphic design student Edward Roberts, from Nottinghamshire.
Mr Roberts’ design was selected as the winning entry in The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Emblem Competition, run by the Victoria & Albert Museum in conjunction with Buckingham Palace.
A continuous line drawing, it symbolises the Queen’s long reign, with the purple colour reflecting the Queen’s Robe of Estate, worn at her Coronation in 1953.
The font used for the lettering is Perpetua, which means “forever” and imitates the font style that appeared on the Coronation Order of Service.
Mr Roberts has also worked with the Royal Collection Trust to design an additional emblem of the UK’s national flowers in the same style as his winning entry.
The continuous line drawing traces the outline of a rose for England, a daffodil for Wales, a thistle for Scotland and a shamrock for Northern Ireland.
Three new products will incorporate this design in the coming weeks – socks made in Wales, costing £16; a fine English bone china coffee mug made in Stoke-on-Trent and priced at £25; and a tin of shortbread biscuits, for £12.95, made in Scotland.
Each will be sold in a limited edition of 2,022 in recognition of the Queen’s historic Jubilee year.