Comments on: The Inescapable Melancholy Of Phone Boxes

By: Martin David Ling

Martin David Ling — Sat, 21 May 2022 10:22:24 +0000

Recent story in the Guardian Long Read was very informative:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/apr/28/last-phone-boxes-bt-payphones-uk

By: jennifer galton-fenzi

jennifer galton-fenzi — Sat, 21 May 2022 09:53:12 +0000

This piece evoked so many memories including the ker-chung! when you pressed Button B to get your money back. In the 1960s my mother had no phone in the house, and used the box on the corner. Once, it was occupied by a man making a lengthy call. Eventually, as there was by now someone else waiting too, my mother banged on the glass and indicated to the man inside, by holding up her fingers, that there were two people in the queue. The man opened the door and called her a rude old woman. She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about!
What a pity this most handsome piece of street furniture is now mostly neglected. A wonderful design by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who was involved in many other iconic buildings.

By: Andy.strowman1@gmail.com

Andy.strowman1@gmail.com — Fri, 20 May 2022 16:06:41 +0000

Very beautiful photos though.

By: Anthony Wardley

Anthony Wardley — Fri, 20 May 2022 16:04:54 +0000

It is absolutely outrageous how the people responsible for these iconic pieces of our history have let them go to rack and ruin, particularly in London.

Yet look at at any publicity concerning London and they always seem to include, red telephone boxes, black taxis , route master buses etc etc.

You can still see tourists to London clamouring to have their photographs taken in or out of these telephone boxes that have become no more than advertising spaces or urinals

By: bronwen

bronwen — Fri, 20 May 2022 14:23:22 +0000

ahhh like you, that era was also a large part of my life. Though the phone boxes were vital, the ones near me in the 80s and 90s were always used as toilets and full of tart cards. It’s wild to remember that a home telephone in london was often prohibitively expensive. Lovely photos and reminisces as always, GA.

By: Sharon Crossland

Sharon Crossland — Fri, 20 May 2022 14:00:10 +0000

It’s sad to see elements of our lives phased out and on reading this I certainly felt nostalgic for the red boxes, now sad and abandoned. Glad you managed to photograph as many as you did as undoubtedly they will eventually disappear for ever.

By: Cherub

Cherub — Fri, 20 May 2022 13:15:21 +0000

It’s the same here in Switzerland, most of the phone boxes are just there but never used. There are a few together by a tram stop in the city centre that for years were known as a meeting place for people going out in the evening. When they stopped being used the city government wanted to get rid of them and the public went mad so they had to take a vote on it ?

Others along the Rhein and in the small towns around me are fitted out for books.

By: Robin

Robin — Fri, 20 May 2022 12:24:49 +0000

National monuments! Keep the phone boxes!

By: David Antscherl

David Antscherl — Fri, 20 May 2022 12:00:13 +0000

Well, today’s offering brings nostalgic memories of rotary dials, ‘Press Button A’, the swing-up telephone directories (in those days not vandalised or absconded with) and the pervasive odour of stale cigarette smoke….

By: Stuart Scott

Stuart Scott — Fri, 20 May 2022 10:52:41 +0000

As a teenager growing up in deepest Kent the phone box provided social communication and romantic encounters that sometimes never needed the pressing of Button A. Walking in the countryside nowadays, it’s cheering to see that the ones that remain have become libraries, parish council notice boards and (regretfully) food banks.