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Does anyone know of a print shop in the UK where I can have proper paper posters made from my photos? Note I'm talking specifically about posters made from paper (exactly like the ones you'd buy rolled up at HMV) and not poster-sized prints on photographic paper. Plenty of outlets claim to sell "posters" but they always seem to be the latter.

Update: I'm offering a bounty on this question to see if we can find any other good suppliers. Results from Staples were OK but not great. Can anyone suggest a better poster printer in the UK?

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Staples are all over the place and print poster sized photos really quite cheaply, and usually while you wait. They use colour laser printers up to A3 and inkjet plotters up to A1. They usually offer a choice of paper as well - the standard is something like 100-130gsm matt paper.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Thanks, I'll check them out. Have you had any done? Any idea how colour fast they are? (ie. how long they last before starting to fade.) \$\endgroup\$
    – Mark Whitaker
    Jul 26, 2011 at 6:33
  • \$\begingroup\$ I have had a couple of A3 prints done but it wasn't that long ago - I think I recall seeing some blurb in-store saying they used UV resistant ink. They're cheap enough that you could probably get one to try - about £3 for an A3 print I think. \$\endgroup\$
    – ElendilTheTall
    Jul 26, 2011 at 8:17
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    \$\begingroup\$ Just picked up two A1 posters from Staples: thanks for the recommendation. The good points: colours are good, paper is nice and thick. I also went for the satin finish so it's got a slight sheen to it. And now the bad points: posters have both got a white border around the edges, which is a nuisance. One has had about an inch cropped off the bottom of it. And finally, they just handed me two easily-creased A1 posters flat to take home, and looked shocked when I asked for a poster tube! So in summary, good printing but the product's not perfect (especially at £25 per A1 sheet). \$\endgroup\$
    – Mark Whitaker
    Jul 27, 2011 at 12:48
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Mark Whitaker my branch always cuts off any white borders (though usually I make sure my photos are cropped to A-ratio, I have had square ones done in the past). And if they cropped off the bottom of a photo, tell them to do it again! \$\endgroup\$
    – ElendilTheTall
    Jul 27, 2011 at 13:03
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    \$\begingroup\$ Mine were cropped to A1 ratio already. Grr! \$\endgroup\$
    – Mark Whitaker
    Jul 27, 2011 at 16:38
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I don't live in UK and haven't printed anything during my visits there, so I cannot recommend you any names. But walking around in my city, I noticed that there's a large selection of poster samples available in public areas, and some of them have hints on where they were printed.

Perhaps you could try looking around for any posters you like, and contacting the printer? In case a poster does not tell where it's been printed, you could try asking the marketing of whatever's promoted by the poster - quite easy nowadays with Facebook, and they probably know the value of a personal recommendation.

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One of the reasons why it is difficult to get printed (litho?) posters is that they are generally only made in very large runs due to costs. It costs almost the same to print one poster as it does to print one thousand posters.

Thus there is little to no demand due to the cost. However modern printing does seem to be getting beter at doing short runs of printing so try looking for the sorts of places that do other sorts of printing and see if they can make a poster.

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Try Redbubble, They vary in price, some as low as £14. Various sizes A2 A1 AO. I am not sure about postage. That price maybe just for members which I am, however there is free membership. We have purchase various item, although not posters, and had no problems. Delivered to whatever address you want also. They also state money back guarantee, a service I have had no need to try. Dennis

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks Dennis. I've used RedBubble too in the past for T shirts: they're generally good but I have had to send one or two back because they were badly printed. I'm aware they do posters, really hoping someone can recommend something from experience. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mark Whitaker
    Sep 3, 2011 at 23:04
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I have used PosterJack in the past because they offer very large prints for a fair price. They are based in Germany but I know they can ship in the whole Europe.

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I realize that this is an old question and the OP may no longer be looking, but one piece of information that's missing here is the number of copies of the poster you plan to buy. Do you want to print just one poster? A hundred? Ten thousand? A poster-sized print on photo-like paper makes sense for small numbers because you can get a high quality print that way with no real setup. If you need a large number of prints, then the cost of setup (color separation, plates, etc) for a more traditional poster printing method will likely be offset by the much cheaper cost per print. So the volume you need will be an important factor in determining what kind of printing company you should look for.

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