Vacant phone booths answer the call of
Even the most British of icons are constantly evolving.
BMW redesigned the Mini; the classic double-decker bus fell out of favour, then came back into fashion; the black London taxi will soon go electric.
With the mobile phone effectively wiping out everyday use of public telephone boxes, what will become of the beloved scarlet-red kiosks that once dotted the nation?
Anything and everything, it seems, from an honour-based lending library to a lunch-salad stand. One is a firstaid stop replete with a defibrillator; another could be the world’s smallest art gallery. In perhaps the greatest irony, they seem just the right size to serve as mobile phone repair shops and charging stations.
Thousands of the dormant phone boxes around the country have been “saved” — repurposed, mostly as part of nonprofit work. But there’s about to be a big expansion in their use as micro locations for businesses.
The push to open shops inside the phone boxes was jump-started by Edward Ottewell and Steve Beeken, who opened the Red Kiosk Company and a related charity. They’re refurbished, given a paint job, new electric wiring, specialty glass and locks. The process takes about three months, Ottewell said.
“Everything’s put back to its original state,” he said.
Tenants sign leases of three to 10 years that cost about £3600 ($6470) a year.
After a first coffee and icecream shop opened two years ago in the southern coastal town of Brighton, a handful more followed suit around the country.
Umar Khalid and his wife run a mini cafe called Kape Barako near Hampstead Heath, London. Khalid had to scour the internet to find refrigeration, shelving and espresso equipment that would fit inside the box. “It’s quite challenging.”
The shop was closed down by local officials for six weeks while they tried to determine the appropriate licence for something that wasn’t exactly a retail shop but wasn’t a street vendor, either. “It’s like a building,” he said.