For our future generations to enjoy: the glass BT phone box
DOTTED along high streets across the country, the red phone box stands as a throwback to a Britain of yesteryear.
Although they have long fallen into disuse, they remain in towns and cities, owing to their popularity among the tourists who flock to pose beside them.
Now, in the same spirit of preservation, a local council is saving its own relics from a bygone era, though some may find them less aesthetically pleasing.
Rochdale borough council in Greater Manchester has announced it is saving six glass BT kiosks from being removed by the telecoms provider so that they “can be enjoyed by generations to come”.
However, the decision has raised eyebrows among some residents, who believe that, unlike their regal-looking counterparts, the borough’s assortment of glass BT boxes are tatty, rusty, and, in some cases, daubed in graffiti.
Commenting on the announcement, a local resident who wished to be known only as Dan said the kiosks were an eyesore and more likely to be mocked than cherished by the community.
“It’s been decommissioned so there is nothing in it at all … it’s really funny – it’s just a glass box. To be honest, a lot of people do use some of the traditional red boxes as bookshops but I just can’t see it with this one.
“There are practical uses for disused phone boxes but because of what this one looks like, with it being so ugly, people were just making fun of it.”
Unfazed by the scepticism, a spokesman for Rochdale insisted the boxes were worth saving. They could potentially house defibrillation equipment that could reduce the number of early deaths in the borough, he said.