Red phone boxes

[Koala456]

 

Our small market town has 2 red telephone boxes next to each other which have been there for decades. In recent years I've never see anyone use them nowadays so I thought, well why not, I'll make a call on it and give it a go! I've not made a phone call in a red telephone box for years! 

However when I got to the box it was locked and there was no phone inside and there was a BT sign in the window saying that these phone boxes were 'preserved for future generations' .  If so, then why couldn't I use one!

I was a little narked by the wording of this sign because if BT really wanted to preserve the red telephone box for future generations they should have a telephone inside! Empty red telephone boxes that are locked and empty and dirty is just sad and I found it depressing.

However, there is a third red telephone box the other side of town and I wondered if I could use that one instead. So I took a long walk down the High Street to the other side of town feeling a bit sad that these red phone boxes couldn't be used anymore.  When I got there this red phone box was still operational and had a pay phone inside! I tried to put coins in the slot but they wouldn't fit! Imagine my surprise when I saw it made free calls! No coins were required! 

That cheered me up!

I made a phone call to home (to Mum's landline). Totally free call!

What I don't understand is why were the first 2 red telephone boxes closed and not operational but the other red telephone phone box the other side of town was still operational and made free calls? What is the difference behind this? It would have saved my legs if the first 2 phone boxes  also made free calls and saved me the long walk.

But it was fun to be able to use a red telephone box again and took me back to my younger years when I used to make calls home from payphones whilst at college and on my travels.

[zulu17]

Not a direct answer but an interesting article from BT from 2023

https://newsroom.bt.com/as-red-phone-box-approaches-100th-birthday-bt-reveals-1000-kiosks-up-for-gra...

[36ULW]

If the phones have been removed and they’re locked up it’s most likely the local parish council have purchased them.

[Koala456]

Thanks for the article @zulu17 . It was very interesting. But I don't agree that a traditional red telephone box should be kept on the streets just as a museum piece. And if they are to be kept on the street at all they should have a working telephone inside.

Yes, most people have mobile phones now but in an emergency with no phone signal or a flat mobile phone battery a red telephone box in sight with a working phone inside, connected via cables, would be a lifeline in such situations. I suppose the same can be said for the analogue telephone switch-off with DV not working on mains electric if there was a powercut. It feels like a step back, however clever the actual technology may be.

It's sad that BT haven't done anything about the red telephone box. Why not put a smartphone screen inside them with USB sockets etc and allow people to send texts and calls and charge their mobiles up from them. A modern up-to-date red telephone box with WiFi, USB, etc.

Red telephone boxes shouldn't be turned into a museum piece that are locked and empty on our streets for eternity, just for people to look at, and just getting dirty. I know of no other street furniture in Britain that is kept as a museum piece and I don't think it's right. Those are my views anyway. 

[iniltous]

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2025/08/preston-joins-other-uk-councils-in-rejecting-bts-gigab...

[Kimberlin]

Where I live, there are virtually no red boxes remaining that contain any working phone. The few that do remain are full of books that the locals are free to swap and take as they please, the rest contain defibrillators. The last phone box I saw that actually contained a phone, the door was half hanging off, the phone receiver had been vandalised and the floor inside was heavily stained and the unmistakable musk, eau de urine, wafted out into the evening air.

I’ll stick to my expensive iPhone (other makes and models are of course available).

[Koala456]

We are very lucky at our town that vandalism is quite low. As a result the boxes are all in excellent condition. I wonder what 20 year olds and under think of them? They must think it strange to see these old red box things! Do young people today even know how they work or ever used the few payphones that do work?  I bet they wouldn't have a clue how to use one!  Their Dad's would say, 'your Grandad used to use one of these when he was a youngster'!  Grandads being youngsters from the 1980's of course! And the kids looking a bit blank at them! 😂