Red Post Boxes can be seen all around London and the rest of the UK. The most common post box seen in London is the red Pillar Box, a free-standing post box.

The pillar box on the left is older than the box on the right

Pillar boxes are not all the same. Some are much older than than others.

How to tell how old a pillar box is

Until the 1980's both the telephone and the postal service came under the control of the General Post Office. Post boxes older than 1980 will often have the words Post Office rather than Royal Mail as seen on modern post boxes.

The Royal Cipher (Monarch's symbols or motif )

On every post box in the UK, the Royal Cipher can be seen of the reigning monarch at the time of the installation. It is made up of the Christian (first) name of the King or Queen together with the letter R which stands for Regina (Queen) or Rex (King).

VR for Victoria Regina 1837 - 1901	ER for Edward Rex 1901 - 1910

GR for George Rex (George V)  1910 - 1936 or 1936 - 1952	ER for Elizabeth Regina 1952 - present day

Note: in the Royal cypher of King George the fifth the V is always missing.

The door was replaced!

Find out more about Letter boxes by visiting our Post Office page