The weirdest places closed for Queen's funeral

When news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death was released last Thursday evening (8 September), the UK embarked on an official mourning period that will last until after her funeral on 19 September.

As a result, this has caused most of the nation to shut down in respect to Her Majesty.

However, some cancellations and closures that are being implemented to pay respects to the late monarch have caused people to become puzzled.

Whether that’s stopping the clocks on the exact minute, the monarch passed to bike rack closures, and much more, below are some of the weirdest ways organisations and businesses are honouring the Queen’s passing.

Sign upto our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Brighton's clock stopped clocks at the time of Queen's death

The Regency Town House in Brighton stopped the clocks at the time of the Queen's death to res as a mark of respect to Her Majesty.

In a Twitter post, the centre wrote: "The shutters are closed, the windows draped. Clocks are stopped at the time of death; volunteers will wear armbands & servants will put black bows in their mob caps.

"The Regency Town House's Regency mourning for the Queen's funeral has begun."

Local councils halt trash collections to pay their respects to Her Majesty

Local councils have faced the fire for quelling bin collections on the day of the Queen's funeral.

Many local authorities across England have announced their decision to delay the collections on their social media pages as a "mark of respect for Her Majesty."

Bike racks are closed in Norwich during the national mourning

A local council had to change signs banning people from using metal bike racks due to the period of official mourning that caused ridicule online.

People were seemingly up in arms after Norwich City Council decided to close various bike racks across the city to mourn the late monarch.

The racks are closed from September 9 until September 21.

The original sign didn’t give much explanation other than the mourning period. It also threatened to remove bikes found on the rack during this time.

It caused outrage among some people, including one person who wrote: “What possible justification can there be for this?!”

Following the reaction, more signs have been put up to detail why the racks have been temporarily closed, which is to make room for mourners laying flowers and lining up to sign a book of condolences.

One supermarket turned down the checkout bleep sounds and music

The UK supermarket chain Morrisons turned down the sound of its checkout bleeps music and tannoy announcements out of respect to the Queen.

One customer who noticed the difference took to Reddit to explain that he was struggling to pay for items because he couldn’t hear the bleeps.

“I did what all brits do and patiently became impatient wondering why everyone was struggling to scan, ‘how hard can it be,’ I thought!

“It wasn’t until it was my turn and I found that they had turned off the beep!” he said.

He also said that a staff member said the sound had been altered due to the period of national mourning.

Morrisons did confirm the change to MailOnline.

Wetherspoons dismisses the 'fake' poster about condom machines not working during the "Royal period of Mourning"

The pub company dismissed the claims they have stopped selling condoms from the bathrooms machines, saying they never sold them to begin with.

This comes after a picture purporting they had stopped dispensing them during the royal period of mourning, which again caused social media to stir.

"This is fake. Wetherspoon [doesn't] even have condom machines in its pubs," a spokesman said.

Street performers banned on Transport for London services

Street performers on the London Underground (TfL) have been suspended during the national mourning.

The TfL said the busking suspension applies to both the underground and railway stations, which will end following the Queen's funeral on 19 September.

"During the period of national mourning, we have taken the decision to pause the busking scheme across our network, and we will reopen the scheme following this," a Tfl spokesperson said.

One person who is a busker said: "I'm a busker on the London Underground with a daughter to support and rent and bills to pay. More than quarter of my monthly income gone, along with many others..."

Royal Yacht Britannia cancels boat trips

The Royal Yacht Britannia visits have also been cancelled, the Edinburgh attracton announced.

In a tweet, the company said in part: "Please note that Britannia will now be closed until the end of the period of official Royal Mourning."

Met Office is getting mocked for putting a partial halt to social media posts

Last week, the Met Office was mocked for placing partial halts on social media posts out of respect for the Royal family.

The outlet told its followers it would "only be posting daily forecasts and warnings" during this time.

But people questioned this, wondering why weather forecasts could be seen as 'disrespectful' when it is a vital public service.

Followers swiftly called the decision "'nonsense", but the Met Office said that people misunderstood what they meant.

In a series of follow-up tweets, they wrote: "The use of the word 'daily' in our earlier Tweet may have given the false impression that we'll only be posting once a day.

"It was always our intention to continue to provide forecasts and warnings for the days ahead, through Twitter, multiple times a day."

Center Parcs is set to close doors on 19 September

The holiday company Center Parcs said it's closing its UK sites on Monday for the Queen's funeral.

"Following the announcement of the date of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, we have made the decision to close all our UK villages on Monday 19 September at 10am as a mark of respect and to allow as many of our colleagues as possible to be part of this historic moment," they tweeted in a statement.

They also said that those who were set to arrive on Monday shouldn't travel as they will "reopen on Tuesday 20 September to welcome guests."

Still, this baffled people, with one adding: "Wait, I thought this was a joke?? They're making people leave holiday, wait 24 hours, then come back on holiday? Just go away for a whole day? Just get out and go??

Elsewhere, shops and businesses such as John Lewis, Aldi, Primark, Tesco, and Waitrose are among retailers that will shut their doors on Monday.

Smaller supermarkets and pubs will remain open.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.