If You Post a Letter Addressed to Hogwarts, What Happens to It?

Question

I was wondering whether the Royal Mail forwards letters addressed to Hogwarts to any organisation or business. After all, letters addressed to Santa Claus, North Pole, get delivered to somewhere, don't they? So do Hogwarts letter get sent somewhere, read and responded to?

Update:

Also, letters addressed to Sherlock Holmes get delivered to Baker Street.

Anonymous · Answer

Why would they have a special policy in place to deal with such letters? Is there some reason why post addressed to a fictional location from J.K. Rowling's books ought to be given particular attention and treated differently from letters addressed to Cair Paravel or Cittàgazze?

Cogito · Answer

As far as I know, they're shredded. The post offices simply don't have the time, resources or money to waste on that sort of thing.

Anonymous · Answer

I expect they are forwarded to the publishers, Bloomsbury, but the real life location is Alnwick Castle. Abbey National (now taken over by a Spanish Bank) used to receive the Sherlock Homes letters as they occupied the block of addresses that included the fictional 221b Baker Street, but  they now end up at the Sherlock Homes Museum since the site was redeveloped.

If You Post a Letter Addressed to Hogwarts, What Happens to It?

3 Answers