About 5 500 street parties will be held across Britain to toast this Friday’s wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, although the royal nuptials appear to have failed to excite locals in east London.
Applications for road closures to hold the traditional celebration of state occasions have flooded into councils across the country and officials say more affluent southern England appears to be more royalist than the poorer north.
The local government association said many councils had been inundated with requests for parties, in which streets are adorned with bunting and flags, while locals erect folding tables in the road to share food and drink.
However, the east London borough of Barking and Dagenham, a diverse working-class area home to many poorer people of immigrant origin, has not received a single application.
“There are a few things going on like parties in community halls, but we haven’t had any applications to close roads,” a spokesman for the council said.