It’d be fair to say that Brits love a bank holiday beverage (or several), and with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations happening next weekend, it seems fitting that a new pub is opening to mark the occasion.
“Are there any two things more quintessentially British than the love of a good drink, and the love of our Monarch?”, asks Grant Harold, a royal butler who worked with the royal family for over seven years. London’s latest pub, ‘The Queen’s Head’, is however, slightly different to your average boozer. For one, it sits 135m in the sky and is part of one of the UK’s most beloved attractions, the London Eye.
Opening today, you can now book a pod that transports you back in time to the day of the Queen’s Coronation in 1953. Decorated with memorabilia, 1950s furnishings, as well as photographs of Her Majesty at every stage of her 70-year reign - this pod is far from your usual London Eye experience.
Like any other pub, there is of course a bar. But unlike other pubs, you will be served only the Queen’s favourite tipples (or close variations of). “I can attest to the fact that our Queen, like the rest of us, enjoys a good tipple. Her favourite drink is a gin and Dubonnet made from two parts Dubonnet, a sweet, aromatised wine, with one part gin, along with two cubes of ice and a lemon slice”, says Grant Harold.
On the menu in the pod are two cocktails: Regal Spritz - a strawberry pink gin with Dubonnet and prosecco - and Royal Delight - a full-bodied signature serve featuring gin, Dubonnet and Italian Bitter Aperitivo, with a twist of orange. The latter being the closest option to Her Majesty’s drink of choice (be warned, they’re powerful).
The pod - being 135m in the air - also happens to be the best view of Buckingham Palace. If you’re hoping to get a glimpse of Diana Ross at the Jubilee concert next Saturday (June 4th), you know where to find the best seat in the house.
The Queen’s Head Jubilee time capsule runs from today until September 4th, from 12pm to 5pm on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets cost £65 per person and include two drinks plus fast track boarding.
