Project 5 - Telephone Boxes in the UK
‘It’s time to remove this payphone’ - ‘Adopt this Kiosk’
This is a project about new uses of old telephone boxes in the UK.
The red telephone box was introduced to the streets of Britain from the 1920s. The most popular design is the K6, by the architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and was introduced in 1935. If you would like to know a little more about the collapse of these iconic features of the British street you can read about it here. Some still remain in areas where ‘mobile coverage is poor, where a box is the last one in an area, or where it has demonstrable community or emergency value’ (Source ChatGPT).
As you will know from your own observations, many old telephone boxes have been given a new lease of life and serve the community in other ways. I present some of these in my photographs, as well as some of the less pleasant uses to which they are used!
The above three photographs show two of the most popular uses of the phone boxes, which are as a community library/book exchange and a Defibrillator station.
Below the telephone box doors have been repurposed. One is an entrance to a Speakeasy Club in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. The other was seen in San Francisco and is a tourist attraction.
Some telephone boxes are used as Art Galleries and exhibition spaces. I have only found one of these so far, which was in Sidmouth, Devon. I will be on the lookout for more. I saw a lovely box full of flowers in Bath (see below)
Sadly many telephone boxes are accumulating rubbish (see below). I am sure you don’t want to see too many of these!
As you would expect, many telephone boxes are used for advertising. I am always on the lookout for unusual things in phone boxes and perhaps this was one - a loaf of bread and an apple.
As this is an ongoing project, I hope each section to be developed over time.
Thank you for looking. Comments always welcome.