Hundreds of thousands of people have been spending long hours in queues to pay their final respect to the late Queen Elizabeth II. Tomorrow being the day of the funeral has been declared a bank holiday and so there are expected disruptions in service delivery across the country. Here are some businesses and services that you can access tomorrow.
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Sorry, we’re closed
Most retailers will be closed tomorrow, according to The i. Major Sainsbury’s stores will not be open but its convenience stores and petrol filling stations will be accessible from 5pm until 10 pm. Morrisons and Tesco will also be operating on this schedule, although the latter has cancelled online orders for tomorrow. Lidl, Aldi and Co-op will not be opened at all. M&S has informed its customers all stores will be closed and deliveries paused.
For those attending the funeral in Central London, these retailers will provide ‘limited’ services, so you can purchase essential items. But they will all be shut be during the funeral itself between 11 am and approximately noon. Guidance from the government leaves the decision on how the day is observed to business owners.
Depending on the nature and location of their business and the tone of planned events, some businesses may wish to consider closing or postponing events, especially on the day of the State Funeral, however, this is at the discretion of individual businesses.
Not all on board
According to Reuters, the National Health Service (NHS) is cancelling some appointments that people have been waiting months to secure. There are also concerns about the NHS resources needed to rebook appointments and doctors having to make childcare arrangements at short notice. Helen Salisbury, a doctor and Oxford University professor said:
The issue is the short notice, really. We can always organize around planned holidays. If you think about people who are waiting for cancer diagnostics, or chemotherapy, it's really difficult to know how they're going to proceed.
Read more:
⋙ The Queen’s funeral: The final stage of the Queen’s journey to Windsor revealed
⋙ Closed food banks, cancelled cancer appointments on Queen's funeral attracts outrage
⋙ The Queen’s funeral: Will Prince Andrew or Prince Harry wear their military uniforms?
