What will be closed in Northern Ireland for Queen’s funeral bank holiday

Most shops and eateries are expected to close, along with schools, libraries, MOT centres, cinemas, supermarkets and visitor attractions.

The government has made clear that “there is no obligation on organisations to suspend business”, and that closures are “at their own discretion”.

Here is a core list of what was known as of today:

• Supermarkets and convenience stores

Tesco: large supermarkets will close all day while smaller Express convenience stores and petrol stations will open from 5pm to their usual closing times.

Asda – all Asda stores will be closed until 5pm.

Sainsbury’s – all stores will be closed during the day with some smaller stores and petrol stations open in the evening.

Lidl – all stores will be closed for the duration of the day.

Spar – Henderson Retail said Spar, Eurospar and Vivo branded stores will close for the duration of the funeral with those stores owned by independent retailers operating opening hours at their own discretion.

Some small convenience stores are expected to be open during the day.

• Shops and shopping centres

M&S, Next, Primark, Poundland and B&M are among the stores which will be closed.

Bloomfield, Connswater, Castlecourt, Forestside and Abbey Centre in Belfast, as well as Rushmere in Craigavon, and The Quays in Newry, will all be closed though some restaurants at the shopping centres may open in the late afternoon and early evening.

• Fast food firms

McDonald’s restaurants will be closed until 5pm.

KFC has said its restaurants will be closed until after the funeral service, and Nandos outlets will be open from 4pm onwards. Burger King have not given customers any indication of plans to close.

• Cinemas

Odeon and Cineworld cinemas will be shut and while the Omniplex chain do not appear to have made an announcement that they are closed via their website it is not possible to book any tickets for tomorrow which would indicate its closure.

• Public transport

Translink will be operating a Saturday timetable

• Health services

Trusts will be operating enhanced Bank Holiday services in order to reduce the impact on patients and service users.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said: “This means they will endeavour to maintain as many scheduled inpatient, day case and diagnostics services as possible with priority given to those people with greatest clinical need. Chemotherapy sessions will also be maintained.”

GP surgeries will be closed and anyone in need of care should contact their GP out of hours service.

Pharmacies will operate on a “rota system”, meaning only one is open in an area for a limited time, while the rest are shut. People can check the rota at hscbusiness.hscni.net/services/2286.htm


• Courts

Most hearings will not take place, however plans are being put in place for emergency court sittings and urgent business if required