Old Brake Bridge.

A friend purchased an old Pashley Royal Mail bike

And has an awkward brake bridge

What manor of brake does this require, or is there a way to retro fit a regular one on?
Also looking for a basket for this if anyone sees one around.
Or a coaster hub / wheel instead of bizarre brake.

I've got one of these, but the twin top tube version.
My one came with hub brakes, hub gears and 26" wheels.
If you're looking to retrofit the original bits, might be cheaper just to buy another complete bike?

I don't think they're looking to keep this original, so buying a new bike because the brake is awkward isn't really an idea.
Clearly there is some kind of brake that goes with it, but as I said, maybe a coaster brake would be easier.

Coaster brak!

Would have had drum brakes originally. I have a pair of 26"ers from just such a bike.

Clearly there is some kind of brake that goes with it,
That would be a drum / hub brake.

I assume the cheapest option would be just to drill it, if you find a calliper brake with a big enough drop. Not sure where you'd find a basket by itself tho?
I paid £40 for my complete bike.

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So the hole is for the drum brake? Right.
Not sure it's possible to drill, it looks slightly oval shaped and quite deep.
Coaster / drum brake is the way then.

I think a separate retro fitted basket could be the way.
£40 is a bargain! Where did you get that?

The hole is likely for mudguard/rack mounting, and nothing to do with the brakes.

What about a small steel L-shaped bracket to mount a normal caliper brake on? You could use the existing hole and would probably cost less than £1

As said above, the hole was originaly only used to mount the mudguard. It looks like it still has the braze on for a hub/drum brake, that's the slotted thingy on the left chainstay.

If a back calliper brake didn't have a long enough bolt? A front nutted brake calliper would probably fit, and you could cut the bolt down. The seatstay bridge is far from delicate on these bikes, they seem to be made from scaffold poles!

But a postmans bike with its super relaxed angles, and without a front tray or mudguards, looks like a ratty path racer project bike to me. But I'm stupid.

I bought mine of gumtree a while ago, an made a cheeky offer. There were a few available at the time, none of them were more than £90. They're big heavy beasts!

add a clamp on coaster brake