Local businesses celebrate coronation, but ambivalence cancels one event

VANCOUVER – Eyes are focused on Buckingham Palace Saturday for the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla.

Across the pond, people in Metro Vancouver are also finding ways to mark the occasion.

At Neverland Tea Salon, high tea is served with a twist for the event. There are pastries decorated with golden crowns and British flags.

“Our general manager wanted to do something for this because it is kind of an once-in-a-lifetime experience,” explained Sinead Clarke, the assistant manager.

The special menu was offered since Wednesday and the tea salon has been fully booked for many of the days. Clarke said they’re busier with the coronation-themed event, but admits it hasn’t been everyone’s cup of tea.

“We have a list of all our special high teas, and when they see the coronation day, they'd be like, ‘I'm not coming for that one but I will come back for another one,’” she explained.

INFLATION, DISLIKE OF CHARLES BLAMED FOR CANCELLED EVENT

Surrey entrepreneurs Satbir Thind and Simran Singh have been forced to cancel their event, which was meant to celebrate the coronation.

Tind is a caterer and owns Satea Mobile Tea Boutique. Singh is an event planner behind Soiree by Sim.

Together, they had been planning the event and planned to feature high tea, live music and actors playing beefeaters.

“I was hoping that we would bring this really immersive experience and have all our guests come in dressed in their finest,” Thind said.

But that vision was dashed due to low ticket sales.

“A lot of people wrote on some of my social media posts that they really think the event looks fabulous and the menu looked good, but they did not want to celebrate the likes of Charles,” she explained.

“I was actually quite surprised. I know that the queen was quite beloved. And I really thought that this is a once-in-a -lifetime experience for everybody and that I really thought people would want to celebrate a changing of the guard in the royal family,” she said.

They said they had to price their tickets higher than their previous events since the cost of food has gone up.

“We tried everything. We tried friends and family discounts. We tried lowering the ticket prices…it just wasn't something people interested in unfortunately,” Sidhu explained. “I am gutted that we have to cancel the coronation event we were really excited.”

The service began at 11 a.m. local time at London’s Westminster Abbey, the setting for every coronation since 1066, kicking off a weekend of festivities.