A Bristol pub has organised a street party to coincide with the Coronation weekend - but the landlord says although his establishment is aptly called 'The Coronation', he won't be putting up bunting for the festivities.
Ben Cheshire has run The Coronation in Southville for several years and explained that his previous attempts to put on a street party were thwarted by Covid until July 2022, when he was finally able to arrange a day of free music and entertainment for the local community.
He said: "It was one of the longest days of my life. I never stopped, but it was really good, and everyone had a great time. But this year, with it being 'The Coronation' and we're called 'The Coronation, ' I thought we're going to have to do it [on the bank Holiday Weekend].
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"But it's not really a royalist celebration because we're not really a royalist pub. But it's also not an anti-royalist celebration - there won't be 'down with the monarchy' posters. I'm not even going to put bunting up; we're just going to have bands play throughout the day, an outside bar and food stalls."
The fiesta of free entertainment on May 6 will be one of the dozens of events across Bristol over the Coronation weekend. Mr Cheshire said that the bottom end of Kingston Road will be closed for the day, with the car park opposite The Coronation being used as a staging area to host a selection of music acts.
There will also be a children's entertainer in the early afternoon, acoustic and solo artists late afternoon, followed by two sets of samba, and three bands to play out the evening, topped off with a silent disco.
Casa-Latina will have a food stall serving Latin American food, and there will be an outside bar with cider and cocktail slushies. The bar from The Coronation will also be selling various beverage options all day, as well as dishes from its menu, including vegan options.
Asked if he was concerned about competition from other street parties over the weekend, Mr Cheshire said: "Not massively. I'm more worried about the weather." He added that no matter what time people decide to stop by, there should be something for them to enjoy.
He said: "I would say if you're a parent and you want to have your kids entertained for a couple of hours or you want to enjoy some food, come down at midday, and that's when we got Captain Barnacle on with his puppets show. Between 2pm and 5pm, we've got Luna Kali, Anna Collete and MLY: they're all female laid-back acoustic singers.
"And if you're a fan of samba, we've got samba at 5pm and Balkan-style dance music at 6pm. And, from about quarter to eight, we've got bands, so everyone should be able to have a bit of a jump around and enjoy some loud music.
"We will also be partly dedicating this event to my father, who passed away last year from Parkinson’s, as a way of raising funds for Parkinson’s UK. I'm running the Great Bristol Run the weekend after and doing two other charity events later this year, but live music and drinking were more his style, so seems fitting if partly dedicated to him."
The Coronation street party will be held outside The Coronation on Kingston Road, BS3 1DD, from midday to 11.pm on Saturday, May 6, and donations to Ben Cheshire's fundraiser for Parkinson's UK can be made at his JustGiving page.
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