At The Queen Elizabeth pub in Bolton you could have heard a pin drop. "That's the quietest it's ever been in here," landlord Derek Gallagher joked after the two minute silence was immaculately observed.
On Monday morning about a dozen regulars gathered at the backstreet pub to watch the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, the only monarch most had ever known. Pints were raised and the odd tear was shed as a big screen more used to showing football or the horse racing relayed the ceremony from Westminster Abbey.
"It's like losing your grandma," said Rhys Leyland as he watched from under a window engraved with the Queen's name. "I'm 38 and she's the only royalty I've ever known. It's like she was one of the family."
