EAST of England Co-op has announced it will hold a minute’s silence across all its stores on Sunday and will cease all retail operations on Monday when the Queen’s funeral will take place in London.

The company’s head of retail said East of England Co-Op made the decision out of a mark of respect for the late monarch, who died last Thursday.

As well as food stores, East of England Co-op runs post offices, forecourts, funeral services, and travel services – but all branches across Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk will close on Monday, September 19, which has also been officially designated as an official bank holiday.

Andy Rigby, the head of retail at East of England Co-Op, said the closure of the stores would allow staff to follow the state funeral if they wished to.

He said: “Next Monday will undoubtedly be a sad and poignant moment in our history.

“As a mark of respect to the late Queen Elizabeth II, and to allow all our colleagues who wish to follow the state funeral to do so, we have decided to close all our retail operations.”

Exceptions include East of England Co-op’s alarm receiving centre, out of hours funeral services, and funerals which have already been arranged for next Monday.