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British iconic phone booths rescued

The British government will save 21,000 iconic telephone booths that almost no one uses for their intended purpose. There are already initiatives to turn them into libraries, mini-galleries or first aid centers.

With their bright red color and windows, telephone booths in the UK are one of the symbols of the country and always attract the attention of foreign tourists. Just like the old double-decker buses, of which only a few survived for sightseeing tours.

The British government is accelerating measures to protect 21,000 booths scattered across the UK.

BT Group, formerly known as British Telecom, said half of the country’s payphones have been removed due to low usage.

Surviving phone booths in the UK

It must be admitted that British telephone booths have more charm than their rather boring counterparts in various parts of the world. There are over 21,000 in total in the UK and Northern Ireland, and although they are in working order, they are usually dirty, covered in graffiti or covered in advertisements for prostitution.

Regulatory authority Ofcom is proposing to keep about 5,000 of these booths operational in areas with little or no mobile coverage.

It is also possible to salvage telephone points located in areas with a high rate of accidents or suicides, or that have been used at least 52 times in the last year (on average once a week).

Ofcom notes that of the 150,000 calls made between May 2019 and May 2020, nearly half were made to helplines or charities such as the Samaritans.

Misuse plans

But these are not the only plans for the use of telephone booths: about 6,600 of them have turned into book exchangers, such as in Warwickshire, or first aid centers, where, in addition to first aid kits, there are defibrillators to help in case of heart attacks, etc., for example, just like that. used by the booth at the Community Heartbeat Trust.

In Cheltenham, a multi-gallery town near Gloucester, a dozen of these stalls have been converted into mini-galleries to promote the work of local artists.

Telephone booth adaptation system

The Fit Booth scheme allows NGOs or municipalities to buy a booth at a symbolic price of one pound and repurpose it.

BT Group warns that the booths cannot be removed from their location, so future users will have to be creative to find suitable alternatives.

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