If you fancy embarking on one of London’s rarest behind-the-scenes tours, please allow me to point you in the direction of Debden. Because whilst there aren’t many things that I’d deem worthy of traversing the entire length of the Central Line for; The Postal Museum Store is most definitely one of the few that makes the cut.
Filled to the brim with postal-service paraphernalia and mail-related memorabilia; this working storehouse is very rarely open to the public. But it seems as though the postman isn’t the only one delivering the goods this morning, because I come bearing some pretty brilliant news. The Postal Museum Store is now offering tours of the space for the first time in over a decade – and a series of dates on which it will be swinging open its doors and welcoming in the public to have a good old snoop around have just been announced.
The Postal Museum Store
The visits start with a an hour long guided tour of the storehouse and its abundance of items and artefacts. Whilst there are less captions and signs than you might expect to find in a museum, the tour guides provide plenty of information along the way. The guided tour is followed by a 30 minute free roam of the space. And unlike the Postal Museum’s central London site, the fascinating objects aren’t kept behind glass, meaning that visitors can get up-close-and-personal with the items that they see – some of which are too large to be put on display at the main site.
From small to oh-so mighty; the objects inside the storehouse will open your eyes to the history of Royal Mail and the fascinating things that have helped deliver Britain’s post over the decades. From the first ever postal carriages (that were drawn by horses) to quad bikes (yes, really), and all of the weird and wonderful postboxes that have existed over the years; visitors will get a glimpse into the past of the postal service as well as a peek behind the curtain of how the country’s mail keeps moving to this very day.
Visiting the Postal Museum Store
The Postal Museum Store is just a 10 minute walk from Debden station (on the Central line) but if you’re travelling by car, there’s a car park on site. The Store Tours sell out extremely quickly but a number of new dates throughout the summer have just been released and – if you’re speedy – you can snap up a ticket here.
