Ringing the Changes: How Britain's Red Phone Boxes Are Being Given New Life (theguardian.com) 30
It's a design classic, but in these days of ubiquitous mobile phones, only 10,000 of the red kiosks remain on the streets. Can they survive the next decade? The Guardian: John Farmer, who describes himself as an activist shareholder, is a man with a mission -- to save Britain's red phone boxes. These were once a feature of every high street in the country, but now number only 10,000 or so (and half of those are decorative rather than operational). At the recent annual general meeting of British Telecom, which even in the age of the mobile phone has a statutory obligation to maintain a payphone network, Farmer demanded that more be done to maintain the traditional red boxes. It was a point he has made at past AGMs -- always, he says, to audience applause.
In 2015 the traditional red phone box was voted the greatest British design of all time, ahead of the Routemaster bus, the Spitfire, the union jack and Concorde. It was designed in 1924 by the architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. [...] There are still numerous Scott kiosks in central London, many of which have been listed as historically or architecturally significant -- a response to the destruction of many boxes by the newly formed British Telecom in the 1980s. Remarkably Scott's original wooden prototype still stands outside the Royal Academy in Piccadilly. Across the UK, more than 3,000 kiosks have been listed, including all the K2s, so there is no danger of them disappearing from Britain's streets. Neil Scoresby, BT's general manager for payphones, tells me a revolution in payphones is under way, reflecting the fact that only about 30,000 calls a day are now made from them. Over the next decade, most of the current 31,000 street kiosks (they are mostly ugly, post-Scott designs) will be swept away and replaced by three metre-tall InLink pillars and other devices that combine free calls with wi-fi services and are funded by advertising, but about 2,500 red boxes will be retained and converted for digital use.
The fact there were once more than 70,000 red kiosks and now only 10,000 remain on the streets suggests that a lot of boxes have disappeared. In the 1970s and 80s, many were melted down, but gradually aficionados such as Stamp fought back and the boxes' aesthetic (and indeed monetary) value started to be recognised. Since 2008, rather than remove decommissioned ones that have not been listed, BT has allowed local councils and charities to repurpose them under its adopt-a-kiosk scheme. More than 5,000 have been adopted.
In 2015 the traditional red phone box was voted the greatest British design of all time, ahead of the Routemaster bus, the Spitfire, the union jack and Concorde. It was designed in 1924 by the architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. [...] There are still numerous Scott kiosks in central London, many of which have been listed as historically or architecturally significant -- a response to the destruction of many boxes by the newly formed British Telecom in the 1980s. Remarkably Scott's original wooden prototype still stands outside the Royal Academy in Piccadilly. Across the UK, more than 3,000 kiosks have been listed, including all the K2s, so there is no danger of them disappearing from Britain's streets. Neil Scoresby, BT's general manager for payphones, tells me a revolution in payphones is under way, reflecting the fact that only about 30,000 calls a day are now made from them. Over the next decade, most of the current 31,000 street kiosks (they are mostly ugly, post-Scott designs) will be swept away and replaced by three metre-tall InLink pillars and other devices that combine free calls with wi-fi services and are funded by advertising, but about 2,500 red boxes will be retained and converted for digital use.
The fact there were once more than 70,000 red kiosks and now only 10,000 remain on the streets suggests that a lot of boxes have disappeared. In the 1970s and 80s, many were melted down, but gradually aficionados such as Stamp fought back and the boxes' aesthetic (and indeed monetary) value started to be recognised. Since 2008, rather than remove decommissioned ones that have not been listed, BT has allowed local councils and charities to repurpose them under its adopt-a-kiosk scheme. More than 5,000 have been adopted.
Paint? (Score:2, Insightful)
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I was thinking solar panels.
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They would be able to fit a lot more inside them then, I would think.
Blueprints? (Score:2)
They're a wooden and glass construction using, no doubt, standard sizes of wood products.
I bet that if the blueprints / design documents were online a lot of people would build some.
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....many were melted down...
They're a wooden and glass construction
/me wonders how wood gets melted down. The original prototype was wood. I can't imagine wood construction holding up very well in the weather. Or British youf.
The implication seems to be that they were not made of wood.
Re: Blueprints? (Score:1)
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actually 5G... (Score:2)
Honestly BT already have a plan for those phone box's its called 5G and it needs lot of antenna's and backhaul
Guess what you can put in the roof of a phonebox... huawei antenna !
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5G mmWave has to be spaced closer together than these boxes - mmWave range is shorter than WiFi and pretty much needs to be on every lamp post to get any sort of coverage. Not sure how well it penetrates, but I suppose if you put your phone on the exterior wall it should work as well.
Sounds Like They Will (Score:3)
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More than decorative. They're often converted into first aid points (with defibrillator machines) or micro-libraries.
The one nearest to me is now a library. It's lovely.
Repurposing (Score:2)
Maybe they could be used as drop-off locations for all the old paper maps and landline phones people no longer need. A few could even be used to store old buggy-whips (or whatever the hansom cab drivers used to use to motivate their steeds).
Let's face it, they were actually awful. (Score:1)
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Just repurpose them for what they were really used for - public conveniences.
Great idea. They should retrofit them with one-way mirrors and toilets.
Still need a place ... (Score:4, Informative)
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Phone boxes??? (Score:2)
> the traditional red phone box was voted the greatest
> British design of all time
Odd. I would rate the blue police box as being much more iconicly British than any phone booth.
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yeah but one day they're there and the next they're not
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Actual blue police boxes I've seen in my life: 1.
Red telephone boxes: thousands.
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I would rate the blue police box as being much more iconicly British than any phone booth.
I guess you don't know Britain, but do know the Dr Who series. Dr Who used a police phone box, and they were not very common at all. OTOH the red GPO (now BT) phone boxes were all over the place at one time.
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The police call box was much more common in the early 20th century than now. They died out because they were replaced with, well, telephone boxes. After all, a telephone box could now not only be used to call the police, but also make telephone calls. Whereas the police call box connected you straight to
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Turn them into WAP's (Score:1)
The Union Jack ?? (Score:1)
the greatest British design of all time, ahead of the Routemaster bus, the Spitfire, the union jack and Concorde
Kidding? The Union Jack is hideous. It is a political compromise of superimposing three different flags - the English red/white cross of St George, the Scottish white/blue saltire, and the Irish red/white saltire of St Patrick. The result is a lurid mess.
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