british phonebox - engaging with communications

The fortunes of the phonebox have been inserious decline for a decade now. Yet despitethis, two of Britain’s phonebox providers arebringing new designs to our streets. Lastyear BT announced plans to introduce Linkskiosks whilst in February 2017, New WorldPayphones unveiled their own new kioskdesign. So, with Ofcom, branding Britain as a‘smartphone’ society, why do we still needthe humble phonebox? To answer thatquestion, we need to start right back at thebeginning and revisit why phoneboxes wereconceived in the first place.

How it all began It was in 1884, only six years after Britain’sfirst telephone was installed in Manchesterunder licence to the Post Office that thePostmaster General, Henry Fawcett, allowedBritain’s fledgling telephone companies toestablish Public Call Offices. These were theforerunner to our more familiar phoneboxand were intended to bring the benefits ofthe telephone to non-subscribers. As aconsequence, companies began to installtelephones in public places such as shops,railway stations and hotels. Typical amongst

these was The Lancashire and CheshireTelephonic Exchange Company who openedpublic call offices in Manchester, Liverpool,Blackburn and Preston where they chargedthe public three (old) pence for a three-minute call.

Of course, these early phoneboxes weremassively different in appearance to theclassic red box, being little more than smallwooden sentry-box style huts (Figure 1).Stepping inside one and closing the doorbehind you offered some privacy and

THE BRITISH PHONEBOXNIGEL LINGE, ANDY SUTTON

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NIGEL LINGE, ANDY SUTTONPhoneboxes,their rise, falland rise?

BRITISH PHONEBOXThe British phonebox has achieved iconic status, recognised the world over as a symbol of Britain. Buttheir numbers have declined massively along with a 90% drop in usage in the last 10 years. So has thedeath knell been sounded for the British Phonebox? Certainly not, say Nigel Linge and Andy Sutton.

THEEVOLUTIONOF THE

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NIGEL LINGE, ANDY SUTTON

protection from unwanted noise, therebyearning them the name ‘silence cabinets’.The telephone equipment within the calloffice was also quite different to a modernhandset, with separate speaking andreceiving parts and with all calls having tobe connected via an operator.

By 1907, the National Telephone Companyoperated 7,800 call offices throughout thecountry and their blue bell logo was oftenaccompanied by the words, ‘You maytelephone from here’. Many of these wereinstalled on the street and although some‘standard’ design patterns began to emerge,commonly known as the Norwich, Wilsonand Birmingham, they all still resembled abasic wooden sentry-box. That however,changed following the almost completeconsolidation of the UK’s telephone servicein 1912 (Hull being a notable exception).

The General Post Office (GPO) now sought tostandardise the design of their public calloffices and in 1921 introduced the K1 – the‘K’ standing for kiosk. Interestingly, by thetime the design was approved, concreteoffered a cheaper alternative to wood and sothe K1 was made up of three sections ofreinforced concrete and a wooden door. Inmany ways, it still maintained a basicsentry-box styling but the door and twoadjacent sides were half glazed. The rearwas of solid construction necessary forfixing of the telephone equipment and thekiosk was topped off with a smoothpyramidal roof and orb finial. Generally,these early K1 kiosks were painted creamwith a red door. Two further variantsemerged in 1922 and 1927 which broughtnew door and window arrangements and anever more ornate roof decoration (Figure 2).The problem though was that the K1 wasn’tuniversally liked, especially by the LondonBoroughs and so the GPO renewed itsefforts to create a standard design.

The creation of an icon In May 1924, the GPO tasked the Royal FineArts Commission to hold a designcompetition, the winner from whichestablished the British Phonebox as a designicon. Giles Gilbert Scott was born into a

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Figure 1: An early Public Call Office or SilenceCabinet on display within BT Archives, Holborn,London.

Figure 3: The much photographed collection of five K2 Kiosks at Broad Court, Convent Garden, London.

Figure 2:A K1 Kiosk, Mark 236 with the 1927door configuration but 1929 ornate roofdecoration. This example is on display at Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings.


family of accomplished architects and hiswinning design for the K2 offered a radicaldeparture from anything which had gonebefore. Introduced in 1925/6, the K2 waslarger than the K1 and was made from castiron, except for the door, which was teak. Thedoor and two adjacent sides were glazedwith panels comprising six rows by threecolumns of equal sized rectangular windows.Its classical design comprised mouldedcolumn details down its edges withhorizontal moulding at the top below a backilluminated opaque rectangular glasstelephone sign above which a perforatedTudor crown provided ventilation. Finally, thekiosk was topped off by a domed roof forwhich Scott had taken his inspiration fromthe Soane’s family vault which lies within OldSt Pancras churchyard in London. Moreimportantly, and against Scott’s wishes, theK2 was painted vermillion on the outside andflame on the inside. Whilst undoubtedly amore stylistic design than the K1, the K2 waslarge and deemed unsuitable for widespreadgeneral use. Consequently, although you cansee a few examples in other cities, it tends tobe very much London’s phonebox (Figure 3).

Looking for something smaller and cheaper,the GPO once again turned to Sir Giles GilbertScott. His design for the K3 (Figure 4) wasintroduced in 1928. The K3 was shorter andnarrower than the K2, made of threeconcrete sections which necessitated aplainer design, had a teak door and a domedroof which was raised above the main bodyof the kiosk to create ventilation slots. It wasstipple painted in Clipsham stone colourgiving it a rougher surface texture with redbeing retained for the window glazing bars. Itremained the standard GPO kiosk until 1936.

Examining the evolution of Britain’sphoneboxes wouldn’t be complete without abrief mention of either Britain’s largest kioskor the flat packed phonebox. Designed bythe GPO’s Engineering Department andintroduced in 1927, the K4 combined a K2with a mini post office complete with stampvending machines and a letter box (Figure 5).It dwarfed everything which had gone beforebut in reality, its size proved also to be itsdownfall with only 50 examples being

manufactured. Addressing the need forpublic phoneboxes at exhibitions andtemporary sites, the K5, also designed bythe GPO’s Engineering Department, becameavailable in 1934, constructed from steelfaced plywood. It comprised just sevenpieces that could be packed into three casesfor transportation (Figure 6).

Britain’s ubiquitous red box By 1935 the GPO had installed nearly 20,000kiosks but still, ironically, lacked a standarddesign that could truly be deployedanywhere in the country from the smallestvillage to largest city. What was needed wasa design that combined the elegance anddurability of the K2 with the dimensions ofthe K3. Once again Sir Giles Gilbert Scottrose to the challenge to produce the GPO’ssixth (K6) kiosk launched in celebration ofthe Silver Jubilee of King George V (Figure 7;overleaf).

Like the K2, the K6 was constructed fromcast iron, except for the door which was

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Figure 4: A rare surviving example of a K3 Kiosk.This one lies opposite the Penguin Beach at London Zoo.

Figure 6: An accurate replica of Britain’s ‘flatpacked’ K5 Kiosk on display at Avoncroft Museumof Historic Buildings.

Figure 5: The K4 Kiosk which combines a K2phonebox with a mini-post office comprisingstamp vending machines and letter box. This example is preserved and dominates ChurchStreet in Frodsham, Cheshire.

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teak. Its door and adjacent sides wereglazed but, unlike the K2, the K6’s windowscomprised a broad central pane withnarrow ones either side organised in eight,not six, rows. The top of the K6 was plainer,comprising a telephone sign on opaqueglass surrounded by simple mouldingbelow which was a slot for ventilation andabove it, a moulded Royal crown. Finally, itsdomed roof showed the continuedinfluence of the Soane memorial. A testprototype was installed in London inDecember 1935 and by February 1936supplies of this new kiosk started to arrive.

With over 65,000 kiosks manufactured theK6 certainly became Britain’s ubiquitousand definitive red phonebox. But whilst itmay be loved by many, the K6 wasespecially vulnerable to vandalism thanksto its panes of glass, disabled access wasan issue, and in addition come the end ofthe 1950s, the country was lookingforwards to a new and exciting modernistfuture. The K6 was starting to look a littleold fashioned so a new more cost effectiveand modern looking design was sought. Asa first attempt the K7 was produced but itnever made it beyond the prototype stage.It fell to architect Bruce Martin to designwhat turned out to be Britain’s last redphonebox, the K8 (see Figure 8).

The K8 was hailed as a masterpiece ofindustrial design with its modern style,clean, and uncluttered look. Made from castiron but with an aluminium door, the K8 hadfull height single toughened glassrectangular windows topped off with aflattened box roof which had slightlytapered sides that each contained a glazedTelephone sign. Ventilation was provided via

a gap at floor level and another betweenthe roof section and main body of the kioskand its narrow base gave the impressionthat the whole kiosk was floating above theground. The first K8 was installed at 6-7Old Palace Yard, Westminster, on 12July,1968 and thereafter replaced the K6 asthe standard kiosk.

Whilst the K8 did offer more resilience toattack, kiosk vandalism continued to be amajor problem and by 1985 the newlyprivatised British Telecom recognised thatdrastic action was required to tackle its lossmaking and troublesome phoneboxbusiness.

Modern but mundane On 20 June, 1985 British Telecom unveiledthe first kiosk from its £160m investmentprogramme which intended to produce‘payphones for the 21st century’.Manufactured by the British company GKN,this new KX range of kiosks placedfunctionality and practicality ahead ofaesthetics and design. Stainless steel,anodised aluminium and toughened glasswere used to combat vandalism but also toreduce maintenance costs because theirfinishes were more durable, didn’t requirepainting and retained their appearance withminimal cleaning. In addition, improvedaccess for the elderly and people withdisabilities was provided. The KX100 was afull kiosk whereas the KX200 (Figure 9),was a large pedestal kiosk with side andtop panels forming a protective hoodaround the telephone itself and the KX300was an unusual triangular design.Complementing these three was the KX420which was a pedestal kiosk.

Whilst these new designs were seen asmundane compared to their predecessors,of far greater concern was British Telecom’splans to replace their existing stock of redphoneboxes. It was now that efforts topreserve Britain’s phoneboxes truly took offthanks to the Thirties Society who sought tohave them protected as historicallyimportant miniature buildings. Whilst thisachieved success in protecting examples ofboth the K2 and K6 kiosk, interestingly, the


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Figure 7: Two examples of the K6 kiosk which can be found in Manchester City Centre near to theCentral Library.

Figure 8: The K8 modern kiosk design that replaced the K6 as Britain’s standard phonebox.Now rather rare, this example is preserved andlocated in Highworth, Wiltshire.


K8 faired much worse because the 30-yearrule deemed these kiosks too young to beprotected; hence, despite over 11,000being manufactured the K8 has become avery rare sight today. British Telecom’spayphone modernisation programme was

completed in 1988 and saw a significantimprovement in overall reliability. By 1996,110,000 of the new KX range kiosks werein service across the country and by 1999this had grown to 137,000 with on average5,000 new units being installed each year.Certainly, in terms of numbers, the 1990sproved to be the pinnacle for the BritishPhonebox.

Facing up to competition and threats Privatisation of British Telecom didn’t justbring about changes to the company, it alsotransformed Britain’s telecommunicationslandscape through the introduction ofcommercial competition in the form ofMercury Communications. In August 1987Mercury Communications applied for alicense to operate a public call box serviceand join British Telecom and KingstonCommunications as the third provider ofphoneboxes. One advantage that Mercuryhad over the other two was that they werenot bound by a universal service obligationand so could pick and choose the mostlucrative locations for their kiosks (Figure 10).

However, despite this advantage, inDecember 1994 Mercury announced itsintended withdrawal from its loss-makingphonebox business and in July 1995confirmed that it had been sold to the ItalianIPM Communications Ltd who traded in theUK as Interphone. Interphone subsequentlyreplaced the Mercury kiosks with their ownflat-roofed, rectangular, glass panelled, greyand orange designs. Unfortunately,Interphone’s phonebox business struggledwith their kiosks suffering from poormaintenance and vandalism.

In 2000 Interphone was sold to InfolinesLimited who subsequently sold their kioskson to Central Payphones who branded thekiosks as Interphone Public Networks. Thenin 2004 most of these kiosks were sold toNWP Spectrum who invested £2 million inreplacing the Interphone kiosks with theirown designs and decommissioningunwanted sites. Approximately 150 siteswere retained and traded as Infolines PublicNetworks Limited, now taken over by InfocusPublic Networks.

Infocus currently operates a network ofunusual kiosks that are both solar poweredand connected to the national telephonenetwork via a mobile link. These kiosks aredesigned especially for wheelchair accessand as such are some of the largest onBritain’s streets.

The British company, New World Payphones,was granted its licence to provide publicpayphones in 1996. They installed the first oftheir new modern kiosks outside Central StMartins College of Art and Design inSouthampton Row, Camden on 27 August,1996. Featuring large glass panels, aninwardly opening bifurcated folding door andpyramid roof, these kiosks were designedand manufactured by MVM as theMVM1000 (Figure 11) and appeared on thestreets painted bright red with yellowbanding and telephone logo.

Another design, the MVM7000, was alsodeployed and this had a single outwardlyopening door, a slightly modified roof designand as far as we can tell, was alwayspainted black. By 1999 they were operating1,200 public phoneboxes as Britain’s largestindependent operator. In 2000 the companybecame NWP Spectrum, then SpectrumInteractive, before being sold to Arqiva in

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Figure 9: Forming part of BT’s new KX rangeintroduced in 1985, the KX200 kiosk wasspecifically designed to provide easy access towheelchair users.

Figure 11: A pair of New World PayphonesMVM1000 kiosks with folding doors and paintedin their distinctive red with yellow banding colourscheme.

Figure 10:Mercury certainly brought a freshapproach to phonebox design. This is their ogeeshaped pedestal kiosk designed by MachinDesigns Ltd which can be seen on display atAvoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings.

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2012 for £23.4 million, and subsequently toClear Channel in 2016.

BT upgraded its KX range of phoneboxes in1996 with the launch of the KX100+ whichbrought back the red domed roofreminiscent of the Scott designs (Figure 12).In 1999 Britain’s phoneboxes were routinelyhandling 40m calls per day with half of all999 emergency calls coming from them.However, this was also a tipping point yearfor mobile phone ownership which doubledto 46% of the population. Ownershipreached 73% the next year and from thenonwards Britain’s kiosk population was inserious decline.

Valiant attempts were made to combat themobile threat including the adoption ofcommercial advertising on kiosks, theintroduction of the kiosks with an internetconnected terminal, upgrading some kiosksto become an integral part of the mobilenetwork to enhance street level coverage,the provision of public WiFi hotspots and in2007 launching the new Street Talk 6, ST6,model (Figure 13).

The advance of the mobile phone wasunstoppable, however, and by 2004phonebox usage had halved, with revenuedropping by 40%. Whilst the number ofinstalled phoneboxes had actually doubledduring privatisation, by 2001 BT stoppedexpanding its phonebox network and from2002 had begun to identify those that wereuneconomic to maintain. This led to awidespread cull of phoneboxes, down to72,000 in 2004, with thousands moreearmarked for removal. Today the figurestands closer to 46,000, with BT reportingthat usage has fallen by over 90% in the last10 years.

Re-birth for the 21st century So, what is the future, if any, for the BritishPhonebox? Today when you mention a

phonebox, people still think about thoseiconic red K2s and K6s. Our heightenedsense of nostalgia has seen several of thembecome listed and many turned to new usessuch as mini libraries, community defibrillatorpoints, shops, and heritage centres. But whoactually still needs a phonebox?

For BT and KCOM in Hull, they have nochoice, because an ‘adequate’ number ofpublic call boxes must be provided withintheir regions of operation as stipulated bytheir respective universal service obligation.That aside, there are still many people whodon’t own or can’t afford to use a mobilephone and for those, phoneboxes remainessential. Foreign visitors and workers often

prefer to use a phonebox when calling homebecause the call charges are less than ontheir mobiles. Finally, where mobile phonecoverage is poor, or your battery is flat, youmay well be pleased to have access to aphonebox in times of crisis.

But, given their loss-making history, how is itpossible for private telecommunicationscompanies to make a viable business out ofthe phonebox today? The answer is that thephonebox has had to evolve and becomesomething more than a plain old publictelephone. For a start, advertising plays animportant part. Many phoneboxes on ourstreets already carry adverts, whichgenerates much needed additional revenue,but the next generation has large displayscreens for digital advertising. Not only is thisa more cost effective mode of delivery butthinking about the Internet of Things and oururban digital infrastructure opens huge newpossibilities for how street level displays canbe exploited in the future. For example, adigital screen can display a commercialadvert one minute and then important publicinformation the next. Also, as a prominentpiece of street furniture, a phonebox isideally suited to act as a high speed WiFihotspot to which we can connect oursmartphones and tablets and additionally, bytheir very nature, phoneboxes are veryvisible and therefore well suited to act as apublic or tourist information point.

Recognising this future potential, BT hasannounced a partnership with thetechnology and media company,Intersection, and the outdoor advertisingcompany Primesight, to introduceultramodern kiosks called Links onto ourstreets later this year (Figure 14). These slim,slab-like kiosks are certainly very different towhat has gone before. Each offers freepublic 1Gbps WiFi, free phone calls, mobiledevice charging points, access to maps,directions and local services and the


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Figure 12:A quartet of KX100+ phoneboxes inCoventry City Centre.

Figure 13: The Street Talk 6 (ST6) Kioskintroduced in 2007 by BT in partnership withJCDecaux.

provision for commercial digital advertising,the revenue from which will be the primesource of funding for the kiosks.

Similarly, in February 2017 New WorldPayphones officially launched their newdesign of kiosk which combines commercialadvertising with high speed WiFi access, a

public information touch screen and atelephone (Figure 15). However, their design,manufactured by the British companyAmscreen, whilst being painted black, notred, also celebrates a strong association withBritain’s kiosk heritage through a Scott-inspired domed roof and side windowarrangement reminiscent of the K6 JubileeKiosk.

AUTHORS’ CONCLUSIONS

From Britain’s first phoneboxes to today, ourneed for, and reliance upon,telecommunications services has grownmassively. Henry Fawcett’s vision foropening up those services for public accessin 1884 lives on to this day; it’s just thenature of what those services are that haschanged. So, the exciting next generation ofphonebox might look quite different but theyare seeking to meet our 21st century needsfor connectivity in the same way that thePublic Call Office did over 100 years ago!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Nigel Linge is Professorof Telecommunicationsat the University ofSalford. He is anelectronic engineer byprofession who specialises in computernetworks and their applications and hasresearch interests that cover location andcontext based services, communicationprotocols, the delivery of multimediaapplications, network design and the use ofnetworks for sensing. In addition, he takes akeen interest in telecommunications heritageand is active in public engagement for whichhe delivers lectures and appears in themedia. Nigel chairs the Connected-EarthHeritage Network and is a member of theEditorial Board for ITP’s Journal. Nigel is alsoa Chartered Engineer and Chartered ITProfessional and a Fellow of the ITP,

Institution and Engineering and Technologyand British Computer Society.

Andy Sutton is a PrincipalNetwork Architect within BTArchitecture and Technology.He is responsible for end toend 5G network architecturewith a particular focus on RAN andbackhaul/x-haul strategy and architecture. Hehas over 30 years of experience within thetelecommunications industry, mainly in radioaccess, transmission and transport networkstrategy, architecture and design. Andy isinterested in many aspects of the history andheritage of telecommunications. Andy is aVisiting Professor at the University of Salfordand a research mentor at the 5G InnovationCentre at the University of Surrey. He sits onthe industry advisory boards of the EU FP8H2020 iCirrus project and Tweether project.He contributes to Internationaltelecommunications standardisation activitiesand several industry forums. Andy is aChartered Engineer, Fellow of the ITP, Fellowof the IET and is a member of the EditorialBoard of ITP’s Journal.


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REFERENCES

The British Phonebox, Nigel Linge andAndy Sutton, Amberley Publishing,February 2017

The Rise and Fall of the Police Box,(2011), John Bunker, Brewin Books Ltd

Telephone Boxes, (2010), NeilJohannessen, Shire Publications Ltd

The National Telephone Kiosk Collection,Avoncroft Museum, Bromsgrove

ITP INSIGHT CALLWant to know more? Join in the ITPInsight Call. Visit:https://www.theitp.org/calendar/

THE BRITISH PHONEBOX

Figure 14: BT’s new Links kiosks which areexpected to appear on our streets in 2017.(Paul O'Brien)

Figure 15: Britain's latest phonebox design whichwas officially launched onto our streets inFebruary 2017. (New World Payphones)

british phonebox - engaging with communications

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