Coronation Dozens of city street parties – but they won’t all be a royal knees-up
SCORES of street parties are set to take place in Bristol over the coronation weekend – but not all will be toasting the king.
The city council has confirmed 64 requests for street parties road closures between May 6 and 8.
Applications to hold a street party closed on Sunday, April 2, but with so many celebrations being held around Bristol as well as several official ‘Coronation Big Lunches’ in areas such as Cadbury Heath, Long Ashton, Keynsham, Chipping Sodbury, Wrington and Weston-super-Mare, it appears most Bristolians won’t be far from a royal knees-up.
But one person who won’t be getting out the bunting despite hosting a party is Ben Cheshire – despite the fact he runs a pub called The Coronation.
Mr Cheshire, landlord of the Southville pub, said his street party on May 6 was for charity and the benefit of the local community.
“It’s not really a royalist celebration because we’re not really a royalist pub,” he said. “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.”
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
Landlord Ben Cheshire outside his pub The Coronation
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
Paul Gillis
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 noon to 11pm on Saturday, May 6, and donations to Ben Cheshire’s fundraiser for Parkinson’s UK can be made at his JustGiving page.
❝ 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