Royal Mail Booklet Vending Machine At The Nec

In 1988, on an annual trip to London, we were staying at the London Park Hotel near the Elephant and Castle. In the Elephant and Castle shopping centre, there was a Royal Mail branch. This had a stamp book vending machine. I bought my first two stamp books from the machine.





Last Thursday evening, I flew to Birmingham International Airport. I spent the night at one of the hotels near the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Bickenhill. The NEC is near the airport. There is a free Air-Rail Link connecting the airport terminal with the NEC and Birmingham International train station. The station concourse connects with the corridor between the Air-Rail Link stop and the exhibition halls.

In the corridor, next to the entrance to the station concourse, I noticed these red post boxes with an old stamp book vending machine.



A temporary notice informed that the machine dispensed £1-books containing four 25p stamps and £2-books containing eight 25p stamps. Such books were in use between November 1993 and July 1996 when they were superseded by stamp books with changed contents. Machine vended books were discontinued in 2002.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand.. did you risk a pound or two?

No, I saved my dosh to buy tea and lemon and lime marmalade. I was not carrying cash and had a suspicion the machine would swallow my cash if I had ventured it.

Is Rose's Lemon and Lime still in production? I used to buy that in the '70s. My preference these days is for Frank Cooper's Oxford Thick Cut.

Yes, it is.

From 7 until 11 May 2025, the NEC in Bickenhill will host EurPhilEx Birmingham 2025, the first British international philatelic exhibition to be held outside London.