I’ll be in London this weekend (didn’t know the crown jubilee celebration would be this weekend ) and I’d like to know where I can buy stamps in a store, that has lots of variety in stamps and not only the permanent series.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
As a tip:
I cannot recommend the stamps of the Company “Universal Mail” which are widely sold in London, e.g. in Souvenir Shops.
Cards with these stamps are sent via the Philippines, ugely delayed and some cards never arrive.
I recommend getting and using only the “official” Royal Mail stamps.
I have experienced it when my brother sent me cards with these stamps from Edinburgh to Germany.
(He did not know about this “problem” when he did it.)
I agree, only use Royal Mail stamps if you want your post to be delivered! As to where to buy them, try to find a post office near where you’re staying, on Saturday (Thursday, Friday and Sunday they will be closed this week,).
If you know where you’re staying, you can use the Post Office branch finder to find your nearest Post Office. Many are counters located in other shops such as newsagents, so they’re not always easy to spot when you’re on the street.
Every Post Office will sell the Machin definitive stamps, but often only the larger dedicated Post Offices will sell a wide range of commemorative / special issue stamps.
don’t purchase stamps from Post Offices located within WHSmith book & stationary shops, they are the biggest disappointments for obtaining special themed stamps.
I only know of one Post Office with a dedicated philatelic counter which is the City of London Post Office in Eastcheap (near the Tower of London) last time I went, they didn’t have much, but had a healthy amount of Harry Potter stamps from 2018.
The Postal Museum in Farringdon has two self-service Post & Go Stamp vending machines with (personally) nice pictorial stamp labels.
… And if doing a day trip to Windsor, the central Post Office has a nice philatelic cabinet of postage stamps, covers and souvenirs.