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In 1875, the British established a post office in a narrow street leading from Bohar Bazaar to Purana Qila, marking the beginning of Urdu Bazaar in Rawalpindi.
The area developed to provide books, paper and stationery to the Potohar region, but its literary identity is gradually fading.
Urdu Bazaar has long been the main hub for literature, textbooks, paper, pens and pencils, stamps, office seals and bookbinding services. It is home to wholesale stationery shops, manual and automatic rubber stamp makers, and a large bookbinding market.
Before the partition of the Indian subcontinent, the bazaar catered to government offices and schools. Although some printing presses were established, most people went to Lahore and Delhi for book publishing, while shops in Urdu Bazaar mainly dealt in paper and stationery.
