Telephone boxes
Designed in the 1920s by the architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, these were a mainstay of every high street – and many a suburban avenue – until the 1980s, when mobile phones began to render them redundant.
The first red telephone box was the K2, which won Scott first place in a General Post Office competition in 1924. Bearing the Royal Crest of King George V, 1,500 were made for the capital’s streets. The later K6 kiosk became more common, with over 20,000 sited across the UK.
Now only around 10,000 remain, but 3,000 are listed and 5,000 have been adopted by local authorities and community groups, and are used as book swaps, seed exchanges and even defibrillation stations.