Knights, concerts and afternoon teas … where to royally enjoy yourself over the platinum jubilee bank holiday weekend
The Queen’s platinum jubilee central weekend – the official celebration – kicks off at 10am on 2 June with trooping the colour on Horse Guards Parade in central London (also shown on big screens in St James’s Park and live on TV). At 9pm, the principal beacon will be lit: a 21-metre “tree of trees” made from 350 smaller trees. A further 1,500 beacons will be lit around the UK, overseas territories and Commonwealth. Other official events include a service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s cathedral on 3 June, a Party at the Palace on 4 June, headlined by Queen (with Adam Lambert), Alicia Keys and Eurovision’s Sam Ryder, and a pageant at Buckingham Palace on 5 June. The pageant includes a River of Hope procession: 200 silk flags made and carried by schoolchildren, themed around the climate crisis and representing their aspirations for the next 70 years.
The royal borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is a prime focal point for revelry, centred on the Long Walk in Windsor Great Park. Events include the lighting of the beacon and fireworks on 2 June, a concert at St George’s chapel on 3 June, a free “bring your own picnic” jubilee party on 4 June – with music, sport and cars from across seven decades – and a Big Lunch on 5 June.
On 4 June, the cultural venue 2 Royal Avenue is going back in time to 1950s Belfast, with art workshops, live music, storytelling, film screenings, a photography exhibition and dancing. The cafe will serve dishes from the decade (free, some ticketed events). Elsewhere in the city, the jubilee beacon will be lit outside Titanic Belfast and City Hall, which will be illuminated in royal purple on 5 June, is to host tea dances.
Bath is taking things a step further, illuminating a host of landmarks in purple on 2 June, including Pulteney Bridge, the Guildhall, the Roman Baths and the abbey (free, 10pm). Bath on the Beach opens for the summer on 2 June in Royal Victoria Park, and is giving away free Pimm’s over the weekend (booking required). There is a Big Jubilee Picnic on the lower lawn of the Royal Crescent on 5 June, with free face painting, children’s entertainers, and arts and crafts (free, 12-5pm). The Royal Crescent hotel & spa is throwing a garden party, with afternoon tea, live music and lawn games (£55).
York is making a bid to have the most bunting over the bank holiday: the city centre will be dressed with more than two miles of it. In St Sampson’s Square, archive footage of the Queen’s visits to the north will be shown on a big screen, alongside daily screenings of the animated film The Queen’s Corgi (2-4 June). Other green spaces around the city will have giant union jack deckchairs, big enough for two, including Dean’s Park, St Anthony’s Garden and Museum Gardens. The Spring fair and food festival at York Racecourse includes more than 40 traders, DJs, bands, a vintage funfair, the lighting of the beacon and a Big Jubilee Lunch. There is a service of celebration at York Minster on 4 June; a jubilee outdoor market at Carlton Towers, also on 4 June, with Pimm’s and strawberries and cream; and lots of gin tastings at the York Gin Shop (2-5 June).
Town criers will read a proclamation to the Queen as the beacons are lit on 2 June, in Norwich and towns across Norfolk. Chantry Place shopping centre is turning into Chantry Palace for the weekend, with royal guards on sentry duty, a throne and red carpet, and a corgi-themed family trail (2-5 June). At Norwich cathedral, there is a performance of Handel’s Coronation Anthems on 4 June (from £15 adults/£5 children). The Assembly Rooms is serving the Queen’s favourite afternoon tea, which includes a chocolate biscuit cake crowned with gold leaf (£24.95, until 30 June).
Bristol is hosting an all-day Big Jubilee Lunch on College Green on 5 June, with live music and activities including making a royal paper flotilla, while raising money for local food charities (free). The Mall, a pub in Clifton, has Platinum Fest on 3 June, with live bands and food stalls (free, 1-10.30pm). Berwick Lodge hotel has a Platinum Jubilee Afternoon Tea Party, with a pianist, a Berwick Bake Off, garden tours and more (from £29.95). The new Bedminster Beer Trail launches over the bank holiday weekend – drinkers collect stamps from independent pubs, bars and breweries along the way to claim a free festival beer at the Bristol Beer Factory tap room (2-5 June).
Several of the UK’s castles and palaces are holding special events. At Hampton Court Palace in south-west London, there is Jubilee Joust in the gardens where knights will compete for the Jubilee Cup (1-5 June, included in standard entry price).
This year’s exhibition in the ballroom of Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire features a dress the Queen wore on the last jubilee, and the coffee shop is serving a special afternoon tea (£15 entry + £30 for afternoon tea, 2-5 June).
Cardiff Castle is hosting a Platinum Jubilee Concert on 4 June, with choirs, orchestras and singers including Bonnie Tyler (£32.50 adults, children free).
At Lincoln Castle, visitors can join the Great British Jubilee Picnic in the grounds, with entertainment from the castle bandstand (free, 2-5 June).
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is performing a programme of works presented by John Suchet that will include music from the coronation, works dedicated to the Queen and Princess Margaret, music from across the Commonwealth, and some of the Queen’s favourite tunes (2 June, from £13). Other events in Birmingham include a four-day celebration in Victoria Square, with family games, a funfair, and live music (2-5 June).
Two Lincolnshire seaside resorts, Skegness and Mablethorpe, are celebrating British bands formed during the Queen’s reign, with tribute acts to Coldplay, the Spice Girls, Oasis, the Beatles, Madness and, of course, Queen. The concerts, which are free, start at 1pm on 4 June and all bands will be playing in both locations. The events conclude with fireworks displays on the beach at 10pm.
A flotilla of 70 vessels will parade from Victoria Pier in Hull to the Humber Bridge on 2 June, including pleasure boats, harbour tugs, a lifeboat and a trawler. Viewing points (free) include the pier and St Andrews Quay in Hull; Water’s Edge country park in Barton-upon-Humber; and Hessle Foreshore. The event re-enacts the Humber flotilla of 2012, celebrating the Queen’s diamond jubilee, in turn based on one from 1897 for Queen Victoria. The action starts with a family gala in Hessle from 3pm, followed by the early evening flotilla and culminating with the national beacon lighting at 9.45pm.

11Arches Park in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, claims to be throwing one of the biggest jubilee street parties in the country (4 June). The afternoon starts with an equine stunt show, Fina and the Golden Cape, a family-friendly tale with jousting, trick-riding, vaulting and chariot-racing. The show is followed by live music on the lake and a giant party, with seating for 2,500 people inside and outside the Arches Hall. Guests can choose from hampers at outdoor communal tables (£30 adults/£20 children) or a three-course indoor dinner with wine (£59). There are themed bars, an open-air dancefloor, a live broadcast of the jubilee concert and, for the finale, a light and water show with fireworks.
This urban flower show (2-5 June, free) is jubilee-themed this year, with city-wide floral tributes. The Queen’s Jubilee Trail has 10 professional displays to discover, from a giant queen bee to a floral representation of the crown jewels. There are many more displays in shop windows, doorways and planters, by florists, artists and community groups, on themes including the Queen’s Gambit. The fringe festival has alternative displays in venues including Noma, the Science and Industry Museum, First Street and the Great Northern Warehouse, such as Sex-Pistols-inspired punk posies. Bars and restaurants will have outdoor pop-ups, and there is a floral cocktail crawl around 10 venues: the summer garden spritz at the Harvey Nichols x Manchester Gin bar sounds suitably celebratory (raspberry gin and rose vermouth, £8).
The Exmouth festival (free, 2-5 June), which usually takes place in May, has held back to join the June jamboree this year. The designated Jubilee Celebration Day is 5 June. There will be a Big Jubilee Lunch, a communal art attempt, circus skills workshops, and theatre and live music including jazz and swing. Elsewhere in Exmouth, there is a big band concert at the Exmouth Pavilion (2 June, £17) and a Jubilee Beacon Trail around town.
The Elgar festival has concerts, street performances, talks and workshops at venues across Worcester and Malvern (3-5 June, ticketed). It includes music with a connection to the Queen, including Elgar’s Nursery Suite and Vaughan Williams’s Te Deum, and performed by the English Symphony Orchestra and the Elgar Festival Chorus in Worcester Cathedral. Other performances include the English String Orchestra playing Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro; and Elgar for Everyone family concert; and a jubilee prosecco tea party and swing concert in Henry Sandon Hall.
The food festival (from £20.50, 2-5 June) coincides with the jubilee this year, so as well as the usual guest chefs (Raymond Blanc, Gennaro Contaldo), masterclasses (pasta-making, cocktail-mixing), stallholders, street food and bars, there is a special jubilee garden. This is the place to have a pint, some fizz or a cream tea while watching the Lollipops, a vintage vocal trio, and the resident brass band.
The Market Square is the centre point of the celebrations in Warwick on 2 June, with free live music through the decades, classic cars and a steam train. Food and drink is available from local businesses, including picnic boxes. Schoolchildren have been baking jubilee-themed cupcakes and cookies for a cake competition, with the winners announced at the event. Finally, there is a Wiggle of Corgis: families can spot corgi stickers in shop windows around town leading up to the jubilee – and the real things wagging their tails in the square on the day.

source