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Albert Square, MANCHESTER, M2 5HD

Albert Square, Manchester

The postbox outside the Slug & Lettuce on the corner of Lloyd Street and Albert Square has been painted gold in honour of gold medal winning cyclist Philip Hinde. Closer view: Image The postbox in its originally red livery (viewed from a different direction) can be seen in Stephen Richardson's 2011 photograph Image

The postbox outside the Slug & Lettuce on the corner of Lloyd Street and Albert Square has been painted gold in honour of gold medal winning cyclist Philip Hinde. Viewed from Albert Square: Image The postbox in its originally red livery (viewed from a different direction) can be seen in Stephen Richardson's 2011 photograph Image

This is Albert Square. The road is the A6042. The double-decker bus is a tourist bus which stops at various points around the city and the out-lying suburbs. The single decker is one of three free shuttle services that travel around the inner city streets stopping at transport hubs and shopping centres. It didn't pull in to the stop to pick me up. The driver beckoned me out into the road so he didn't lose his place in the traffic queue.

Royal Mail celebrated every gold medal won by a British athlete during the London 2012 Olympic Games by repainting one of their iconic red pillar boxes gold for each gold medal winning Olympian. This one honours Philp Hinde who won a gold medal in the men's cycling team sprint event. It is outside the Slug & Lettuce, on the corner of Lloyd Street and Albert Square in Manchester. The Grade I listed, Victorian Town Hall can be seen in the background. In total, Team GB won 29 Gold Medals for the Olympic Games and 34 Gold Medals for the Paralympic Games; for team medals, a post box was painted gold for all team members (see http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Olympic-Gold-Post-Boxes for list and more examples). This was the first occasion in modern times that Royal Mail had changed the colour of their post boxes from the traditional red which has been the standard colour for UK boxes from 1874, with very few exceptions. The original plan was for the boxes to be returned to their traditional red colour but in November, it was announced that they would remain gold and that a plaque would be fixed to each one (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20183986 BBC News). https://web.archive.org/web/20171231162534/https://www.goldpostboxes.com/ - archived 31st December 2017 (Royal Mail Gold Postbox Finder)

Replacement paving and drainage. See also in 1987: Image

The close-up shows a band with raised lettering "MEMORIAL HALL ERECTED IN COMMEMORATION OF THE YEAR 1662", inscribed on the front of the Memorial Hall

The Grade II listed https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1197823 statue of Gladstone in Albert Square is by W Theed Junior and dates from 1878.