Britain’s famous red telephone boxes are officially retired by British Telecom, another victim of encroaching technology and corporate expediency.
Retired does not mean “completely gone,” however. Although their numbers have dwindled over the years, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s iconic telephone boxes are still kicking around Old Blighty. And they remain the phone box of choice on the island of Malta. Scott’s design was chosen in a 1924 competition, and Scott himself originally recommended painting the boxes silver. The post office—which ran Britain’s phone service at the time—chose red so the booths would be easier to see. Red was also, of course, the color (or should we say colour) of the post office letter boxes found on so many corners. Following privatization in 1984, the phone service switched to British Telecom, and the design of phone boxes became more utilitarian. Many of the red boxes were replaced, but a public outcry led to the preservation of a fair number, especially in areas of central London frequented by traditionalists and tourists.
The growing prevalence of cellphones in the past two decades has severely reduced demand for public phone boxes of any type. Some of the red beauties still in use have been converted to Internet kiosks, but smartphones are knocking the wind out of that market too.—TL