I’ve always been an advocate of old fashioned red cast iron telephone boxes, the 1930s ones that were “rescued” by conservation groups in the 1980s/1990s.
I hear now that the generation of boxes that followed Gilbert Scott’s K6 boxes, the K8, designed by Bruce Martin, are now under threat. In fact, there are currently only 12 in operation in Britain. Although not as iconic as the old K6 boxes, the K8 – introduced in 1968 – was certainly of its time. I spent many hours standing in one outside South Ockendon railway station talking to my girlfriend around the 1973-74 period. I remember balancing with one foot on the window with the phone curled round my ear with the feint odour of urine and the shredded phone books dangling from their holder.
The K8 boxes lacked the cosiness of the old fashioned boxes, but then they were not meant to be lived in, just used for brief phone calls. But they became seedy, bacteria dens that invariably acted as emergency toilets or rain shelters. With the arrival of mobile phones, who wants to use a public phone? Not me, that’s for sure.
I hear now that the generation of boxes that followed Gilbert Scott’s K6 boxes, the K8, designed by Bruce Martin, are now under threat. In fact, there are currently only 12 in operation in Britain. Although not as iconic as the old K6 boxes, the K8 – introduced in 1968 – was certainly of its time. I spent many hours standing in one outside South Ockendon railway station talking to my girlfriend around the 1973-74 period. I remember balancing with one foot on the window with the phone curled round my ear with the feint odour of urine and the shredded phone books dangling from their holder.
The K8 boxes lacked the cosiness of the old fashioned boxes, but then they were not meant to be lived in, just used for brief phone calls. But they became seedy, bacteria dens that invariably acted as emergency toilets or rain shelters. With the arrival of mobile phones, who wants to use a public phone? Not me, that’s for sure.
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