Mugs, flags, biscuit tins: coronation generates a princely sum for UK business
I n Stoke-on-Trent, the potters are working seven days a week, while in Knaresborough strings of bunting are whizzing through machines. In London, icing “artists” are painstakingly decorating Westminster Abbey-shaped biscuits.
It’s a race against time to fill customer orders as the clock ticks down to King Charles III’s coronation. Buoyed up by the public’s enthusiasm for last year’s platinum jubilee, businesses are cranking out memorabilia, decorations and party food ahead of the blockbuster royal event.
Pamela Harper is chief executive of Halcyon Days, where staff are working round the clock in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, to produce fine bone china products for the coronation. She said: “Watching the factory floor is just a miracle at the moment. We are running seven days a week.”
“It’s definitely a bigger deal than a [royal] wedding,” she continued. “We felt going into it that it would be equal to a jubilee but I feel it’s going to outstrip it. Our business is very strong.”
The nation is expected to spend nearly £250m on souvenirs and memorabilia, with crockery, coins, flags, books and stationery the big sellers, according to the Centre for Retail Research (CRR). However, this is just the tip of the iceberg, as the CRR thinks the overall figure could top £1.4bn if cash spent on hosting parties and going out, as well as by tourists, is totted up.
Emma Bridgewater, founder of the eponymous pottery brand, said: “This mysterious thing happens around a royal event. People are very inclined to put aside what their actual politics might be in favour of a bunting-swathed event because it’s so nice.”
Bridgewater’s distinctive cream earthenware is made in Stoke-on-Trent and “royal events have always meant jobs” for the city, she
Read more on theguardian.com
