Gold postboxes are to remain on our streets as a permanent tribute to the Olympic and Paralympic athletes who earned the honour.

Royal Mail has announced the postboxes will retain their gold colour to commemorate the success of British athletes.

A total of 110 postboxes have been painted across the nation, including one in Horsforth and another in Rawdon.

Horsforth’s box, in New Road Side, was given a golden makeover to mark the success of triathlete Alistair Brownlee. His brother Jonny also won bronze.

Rawdon’s postbox was painted in tribute to paralympic gold medallist, cyclist David Stone.

Each postbox will have a plaque naming the athlete and marks their gold medal achievement, or marks the location’s connection with London 2012.

The postboxes have now become cherished local landmarks, with many members of the public visiting them and circulating pictures on social media channels. The location of the boxes can be seen at goldpostboxes.com, along with many pictures uploaded by visitors.

Painting the iconic postboxes gold was a part of Royal Mail’s plans to honour the victories of Team GB and Paraly-mpicsGB, along with the gold medal stamps programme.

The decision to keep the postboxes gold marks the first time in Royal Mail’s history that it has painted its iconic postboxes a different colour perman-ently to mark an historic achievement.

The group’s chief executive officer, Moya Greene, said: “We are delighted at the way people took to this simple idea.

“The gold postboxes gave communities even more opportunity to mark the successes of Team GB and Paralympics GB, and became a part of local celebrations of London 2012 across the UK. I am pleased to confirm these postboxes will be kept gold permanently.”