An Oldham pub has made an early march on their Jubilee celebrations - with patriotic décor up for the past MONTH. The Coach and Horses in Waterhead is known for being something of a party pub.
But the wealth of flags, bunting and Queen cardboard cut-outs have been causing a stir for the past few weeks at the pub based on the main Huddersfield Road through the Oldham village. The Queen's Platinum Jubilee will be formerly celebrated with a four-day bank holiday weekend starting from Thursday, June 2.
But the Coach and Horses' décor has been up since the end of April. Pub landlady Lesley Howard admits the decorations went up early because she "got her dates mixed up" initially - but says that regulars are now loving getting into the party spirit so has kept them up to celebrate for a full month.
Read more : The best pubs across Manchester and Salford
She ordered hundreds of flags off Amazon, as well as cardboard cut-outs of the Monarch, balloons and bunting. There's even a special photo area where you can pose up next to a life-sized Queen.
Lesley says: "I ordered it all off Amazon and I've got more flags to go up as well by next week.
"I thought I'd put them up early, after St George's Day really, although that is partly because I got the dates for the Jubilee wrong as I thought it was the start of May! But as I started putting them up I thought do you know what, I can put something up extra every day, and build it up for a full month.
"We're only ever going to get one platinum jubilee aren't we. So why not go to town with it?"
Lesley says the pub is known for it's extended party celebrations. Last year, post-Covid, they even decided to hold three separate Christmases and New Year's parties to make up for lost time through the lockdowns.
Lesley explains: "Last year we decided to start Christmas in August. We had everyone come out in fancy dress, we even had someone come as Jesus.
"Then we thought why not keep all the Christmas decorations up - so when it got to Halloween we just put cobwebs on the Christmas decs to make it look spooky. We go full on here we really do."
Lesley is well known with her 26 years of experience at the helm of pubs in the area, having been landlady at The Plough for 13 years, before taking on the Coach and Horses 12 years ago.
The pub holds a fancy dress disco on the last Saturday of every month and holds regular open-mic nights too. As we head towards the week of the Jubilee itself, Lesley said she has plans to hold a Royal bingo event and to get even more flags and bunting out to adorn the pub.
Lesley, 61, beams: "By the end of May it's going to be mint. There will be flags, lights, everything we will blitz the lot in Jubilee décor.
"I just thought the Queen deserves a whole month of celebrations. I love her, I think she’s brilliant we are not going to see the like of her again. We're very loyal and we just love a party here."
Get the latest What's On news - from food and drink to music and nightlife - straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter .
