Since the first British red telephone box designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott appeared outside of the Royal Academy in London in 1924, they have rapidly become a British icon and tourist attraction all over the country, with thousands of London visitors each year queuing up to have their photograph taken with one of London’s famous landmarks.
There are around 20,000 working telephone boxes remaining in the UK, however only around 3,000 of these are the traditional red ones. Thanks to innovate schemes from BT many original telephone boxes have been taken over by their communities and changed into a number of various facilities over recent years – from defibrillator houses and libraries to mini art galleries and museums.
With many of these iconic red telephone boxes remaining in the Ribble Valley, local MP Nigel Evans has raised his concerns regarding the terrible state of repair that some of these boxes are currently in.
Commenting Nigel said:
“The British Red Telephone Box is an iconic symbol of Britain, and we must ensure that this remains. Whilst we can all fully recognise the original function of a telephone box is no longer as sort after given the widespread use of mobile phones. It remains crucial that we keep up the maintenance of these telephone boxes and ensure that they are looked after to the very highest standard.
“In London especially, these telephone boxes are a tourist attraction – each day you can see hundreds of tourists queuing to have their photograph taken with these iconic landmarks. Sadly, many of the telephone boxes I see in London, the Ribble Valley and across the UK are in a terrible state of repair and it is therefore vital that BT do all that they can to look after the boxes and ensure that they are maintained and well looked after.
“These boxes have been a staple feature along British streets since 1924 and we must ensure that they are not left to fade away in the same way that the iconic ‘Dr Who’ police boxes were allowed to. I have written to the Chair of BT to raise these issues and I sincerely hope that they continue to do all that they can to protect these iconic British landmarks.”