Postcrossing Blog

When the Olympics were hosted in the UK, there was a special initiative to paint the traditional red post boxes gold in the hometowns of Britain’s gold medal winners. Some years on, Dawn (DJMinNL) has written us a guest post about how that all turned out! Without further ado, over to Dawn.

Red post boxes are one of the UK’s most recognisable sights. The first pillar boxes appeared in 1853. Originally green, from 1874, they were painted bright red to make them easier to spot. Fast forward to 2012, and something unusual happened—some of them turned gold.

The change came during the London 2012 Summer Olympics (27 July to 12 August). To celebrate Team GB’s success, Royal Mail launched a nationwide tribute: every gold medal winner would have a post box in their hometown painted gold for six months. As an extra touch, a commemorative stamp was released for each winner—remarkably, available the very next day.

The idea proved so popular that postal services in Guernsey and the Isle of Man adopted similar plans, as their athletes are included in Team GB.

The project was managed by Royal Mail’s in-house communications team, though a few adjustments had to be made along the way following public pressure.

First, on 15 August 2012, Royal Mail confirmed that Paralympic gold medallists would also be honoured with gold post boxes and stamps. Given that the Paralympics began on 29 August, the timing of this decision was very late.

Then, on 19 September, Royal Mail revised its stance again. Initially, only athletes competing for Team GB were included. However, after criticism, they extended recognition to Northern Irish Paralympians who had won gold while representing Ireland.

Finally, on 2 November 2012, another update was announced: the gold post boxes would not revert to red after six months, as originally planned. Instead, they would remain gold permanently and be fitted with plaques—featuring both text and braille—honouring the athletes.

In total, there are around 111 gold post boxes across the UK. Some athletes have more than one. Most because they won more than one gold medal, but there were other reasons, such as strong connections with two places, e.g. tennis player Andy Murray received two: one in Dunblane, where he grew up, and another in Wimbledon, where he achieved some of his most memorable victories.

Over time, these gold boxes have become tourist attractions. Fans visit them, photograph them, and in some cases, get a little too enthusiastic—Murray’s box was even vandalised by people chipping off flakes of gold paint as souvenirs. Others have turned visiting all the boxes into a personal challenge.

There’s no doubt the gold post boxes were a creative and uplifting way to celebrate sporting success. They captured a moment of national pride and brought Olympic achievement onto the everyday street.

Still, it raises a question: should they stay gold forever? Since 2012, there have been calls to repeat the idea for future Olympic Games. While the sentiment is understandable, part of what made the original idea so special was its uniqueness. A limited-time tribute—perhaps six months or a year—might have been enough to preserve that sense of occasion. What do you think? Should UK post boxes stay red?

We’ll be curious to see what people think! Thank you again to Dawn for writing this post up for us to share.