British Olympic gold medal winners in 2012 got more than the gold medals that defined them as elite sportsmen and women. The gold medal winners for London 2012 were also commemorated with gold painted post boxes in their hometowns and a set of stamps.
I bought two sets of stamps as mementoes of the historic games: those of Sir Andy Murray, who won his gold medal after he beat Roger Federer on Wimbledon’s Centre Court. This was after he had lost to Roger Federer on the same court in the final of the Wimbledon Championships only a few weeks earlier. I also bought Sir Bradley Wiggins’ set of stamps. We had gone to Hampton Court to watch the Men’s Time Trials the afternoon of his win. They were my ‘as we were there’ souvenir.
It was a source of national pride to watch Team GB come third on the final medal table with 29 gold medals. The honour was also given to the Paralympic athletes and so Britain now has 110 gold post boxes.
Britain’s post boxes were originally painted green, but they’ve been pillar box red since the 1870s. It is believed to be the first time that the Royal Mail (and previously the Post Office) have changed the colour of the post boxes. They are, according to Royal Mail Group ‘cherished local landmarks’ and after being ‘well received’ by the public the Royal Mail decided to keep the gold post boxes as a permanent reminder of our Olympic winners in 2012.
This pair of gold post boxes is dedicated to Paralympian James Roe in Stratford-upon-Avon.
I must admit being pretty excited to see my first gold post box. It was for Olympic cyclist Joanna Rowsell, in Cheam, south-west London.
I later came across the post box to honour Sir Mo Farah, in Teddington, he also has a gold box commemorating his second gold medal of the games in Isleworth.
Wandering around Edinburgh in the rain I happened across the gold post box for Sir Chris Hoy.
Last week I finally visited another box that is fairly local to me, the box dedicated to Sir Andy Murray, near the All England Tennis club in Wimbledon.
I also took a small detour on my trip to Scotland and photographed the Bradley Wiggins gold postbox in Chorley.
Postscript:
A little extra trip to Dunblane (suggested by my husband) to photograph the second Andy Murray gold post box, this one in his hometown.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/19065717
https://www.royalmailgroup.com/permanent-gold-post-boxes
https://www.flickr.com/photos/128113543@N07/
Images author’s own.
HistorianRuby: An Historian's Miscellany 
I have seen the Andy Murray one in Dunblane, but didn’t know he had another one.
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Special treatment for Andy Murray – but he is closely associated with both places. 🙂
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What a lovely way to commemorate their achievements!! Quite often in Canada, hockey and curling rinks will have monuments (because being realistic, Canada really only does well in the Winter Olympics haha)!
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I hadn’t looked at postal history when the Royal Mail did this and I, along with lots of people, were excited about the change. It was only meant to be short term but it’s now a permanent reminder of London 2012.
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Our post boxes are so plain compared to yours. Ours are blue and they rather resemble a garbage can (not sure what the British call a garbage can) Royal mail post boxes are so ornate, even when painted red. I had to do a Google search to see one in red. We have some, which are white for shipping companies like FedEx, Yellow for DHL, but those are few and far between. There isn’t a single post box in the town where I live. You can place outgoing mail in your personal mailbox, which is either located at the post office (they have a special outgoing slot), directly at the end of the driveway to your home, or attached to the house in some manner. Some are on the wall outside the front door, while others are a slot in the door. If you have outgoing mail, you lift a red flag or clip it to the outside with a clothespin. It always fascinates me how differently we do things in the states.
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A garbage can in Britain is sometimes refered to as a dustbin, but more commonly a bin! I can’t imagine living in a town without a post box. I like the idea of raising attention to outgoing mail by attaching a red flag.
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The flag is built into the mailbox. It flips up and the mailman flips it down once he/she grabs the outgoing mail.
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Also, we have an actual post office, but it’s closed early and on weekends.
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I like the idea! And I agree that your postal boxes are so much more attractive than our big blue boring boxes. Actually, in our town, the trash cans are much nicer looking.😀
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I think that was a really nice touch back in 2012. I didn’t there realise there were quite few local to me back then (Surbiton) otherwise I would have gone to take a look. Thanks for this summary.
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Once I’d taken my pics I found there was another in Worple Road Wimbledon, that I didn’t visit. It’s dedicated to a female rower. Her name escapes me at the mo. I would have taken a snap if aware of it earlier.
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I was visiting a friend recently and we popped into Elys and we saw a gold post box just outside…we wondered why it was gold…
What an interesting post, I had no idea!
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Elys of Wimbledon? For a moment there I thought you meant Ely! 🙂 I wondered which end of Worple Road it was! I was moments away from it then when turned off to find Georgette Heyer’s blue plaque!
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I think it was near the corner…We walked out of the entrance opposite The Alexandra pub and then decided to go round the corner so we could buy something in Sainsburys before we headed up to the Village.
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I now live in Wallington which has 4 for David Weir! I also work quite near the Westminster one and remember how we were all intrigued to see it go golden overnight.
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Wallington is not too far from me – I should head there to see them. 🙂
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What was so special about the 2012 Olympics? Did GB receive a record amount of medals? How fair is it for , say 2016 Olympians? Did they get their own boxes, too? And if they will start giving these boxes left and right, will all mailboxes turn gold soon enough?
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2012 was special because it was a home Olympics – no other reason. They did not do it with the 2016 Olympics, although a few members of the public took it upon themselves to paint a few postboxes gold.
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Ah, I seem to think that London Olympics were FOREVER ago. Another reminder how time seems to fly.
Interesting.
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Wow Ruth you found so many!! 😀
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I’ve only searched for one or two. But my work has taken me out and about and I’m lucky to pass them. 🙂
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