Manchester's Blue Post Box

Image: © David Dixon Taken: 2 Dec 2017

This George V pillar box on Liverpool Road is distinctive because of its colour, blue rather than the normal red colour associated with UK post boxes. As far as I am aware, it is one of only two blue postboxes still in regular use in the UK; the other one being located outside Windsor Castle in Berkshire. By the early 1930s regular airmail services were being operated to Europe and the British colonies and dominions. A fleet of special vehicles and dedicated postboxes were introduced to facilitate collection of air mail and its speedy onward transmission; to distinguish them from regular post boxes, they were painted Air Force blue. The service ran successfully until the outbreak of war in 1939, when it was suspended. Although Air Mail re-commenced after the War, the postboxes and vehicles were no longer identifiable, as Air Mail could now be posted anywhere. From 1939 blue airmail boxes were removed, repainted red and re-entered service for standard mail. This one was repainted blue (in 1983?). Presumably because it is situated outside the Air and Space Hall of the Museum of Science and Industry and so acts as a reminder of the pre-war air mail service.

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