In business for more than three centuries, the world’s oldest post office – opened in Sanquhar, Scotland, in 1712 – now faces uncertainty.
Set to retire, current owner and collector Manzoor Alam, who’s only the post office’s 16th postmaster, recently put the business and its accompanying three-bedroom cottage on the market.
The property is being sold for £275,000, but Alam is concerned its 300-year-old history might be lost if a proper buyer isn’t found.
“I hope someone will come along and buy it and keep it going because this is Scotland’s heritage and more particularly Sanquhar’s,” Alam’s wife Nazra, who also worked at the post office since the couple took over in 2015, told BBC.
It belongs to Britain’s “Post Office” network, which split from Royal Mail in 2012.
“We are proud of the heritage of Sanquhar Post Office and are committed to preserving it into the future,” a Post Office official told BBC. “Post Office will be working with the local community to try to find a new postmaster to take on the branch and ensure it remains part of the Post Office network and Sanquhar’s unique place in postal history is retained.”
The second-oldest post office in the world is a Stockholm branch opened in 1720.