Shop owner calls time on postcard tradition

The owner of the rock and gift shop said customers rarely bought postcards anymore

A gift shop owner in Bridlington has said the tradition of buying and sending postcards is a "thing of the past".

Daniel Lumb, owner of No1 Rock And Gift Shop on the seafront, said he only sold one postcard every couple of months.

The Postcard Traders Association said postcards have been overtaken as a form of communication by text messaging and telephones, but collecting them was still a "thriving hobby".

On the streets of Bridlington, only a few local people confessed to still buying and sending postcards.

Mark Wingham from the Postcard Traders Association said postcards are still a "thriving hobby"

Mr Lumb said: "I do think with technology now it's just a thing of the past. It's a dying sort of traditional line.

"People do buy them more in the gift boxes with fudge but apart from that we have a selection but no one really bothers with them anymore."

The shop had looked at producing its own postcards but Mr Lumb said the cost price was "just not worth it".

He added: "To get more traditional photos, we would have to get them made in the UK and the cost is too much.

"You would have to be selling them at £1.80 to £2 and people these days would rather send a picture."

Mr Lumb said "never say never" to a revival in the tradition but added that he "can't see it happening" due to the replacement of phones and social media.

The seaside gift shop said it would "cost too much" to make their own traditional postcards

Mark Wingham from the Postcard Traders Association said buying postcards is still a "thriving hobby" but they aren't sold in as many places.

He said: "Postcards have been overtaken as a form of communication by text messaging and telephones.

"In their heyday, it was extremely cheap and the most effective form of communication.

"The cost of sending them has just spiralled."

The 'Golden Age' of selling postcards is known to be from the early 1900s until the end of the First World War.

They then had a resurgence in the 1960s and 1970s.

Mr Wingham added: "Who's to say that they won't come back again one day?"