By Lesley Walsh
WITH just a handful of BT’s iconic red phone boxes still in use throughout the borough, campaigns are underway to save these cultural artefacts from becoming totally redundant amid today’s near blanket mobile phone use.
As the old-fashioned telephones inside these classic K6 kiosks become obsolete, communities are filling them instead with life-saving defibrillators, books, food banks and all manner of public services, with plans afoot for something similar for those in Donaghadee and Greyabbey.
More than 5,000 UK communities have already turned the once 20,000 strong fleet of landmark kiosks into such amenities to-date, being able to adopt them from BT for just a £1 to give them new life in the post-digital revolution world.
Confirming an accurate number for just how many of these cherry red phone boxes still exist throughout North Down and Ards today, is a difficult task. First introduced in 1935 and designed by architect Giles Gilbert Scott, known for Battersea Power Station, BT says just six exist – with working phones within the area.
However, many kiosks, which are the main attraction, are hidden from public view having been brought into private ownership in the homes and gardens of enthusiasts, with others employed by shops for myriad ways or just as decorative objects.
Some languish among the urban highways and rural byways, with broken windows, rusted from years of neglect, sprouting invasive flora from surrounding hedgerows.
BT has signalled moves towards shutting many across the country, due to the fact that 98 per cent of society now has a mobile phone, rendering them almost obsolete, with calls from their public phones dropping by 90 per cent in the past decade.
Others, like two local kiosks in Greyabbey and Donaghadee, hoping to gain the protection of listed status under the Department for Communities’ Historic Environment Department (HED), could soon perform services other than telephony, if they pass BT’s closure review.
Two within the borough and its fringes which already enjoy protected status, include the K6 kiosks in Kearney at the tip of the Ards peninsula and in front of Jordan’s Castle in Ardglass.
Greyabbey’s old BT payphone on Main Street, outside Trinity Presbyterian Church on the corner of Newtownards Road, is one of the two local kiosks – with working phones – under threat from BT’s review.
The telecom firm recently posted a notice on it, notifying people of the impending removal of the telephone inside the kiosk, prompting the social media group, the Grey abbey Community Hub, to issue an appeal to locals to register their objection to its removal.
The telecom body said local people had 90 days to act or lose it – starting on March 3 – meaning that process ended 108 days ago, but as yet BT has not revealed its decision on its future.
People said on social media ‘it’s part of the history of Greyabbey’.
“I think when it is gone it will be missed, even in this day of everyone having a mobile phone thinking we don’t need it anymore. But It could have a new life and be repurposed for something else,” said one supporter.
“If you have the imagination, there are so many things you can do to the old phone box as has been done on the mainland. The old British red phone boxes are being repurposed in various ways, including as defibrillator locations, charging stations, libraries/book exchange, and even as unique cafes.”
Donaghadee’s phonebox at Killaughey Road, already under review by the HED, has been described as a ‘wonderful piece of our heritage’.
If the review is successful, it would ensure the town’s famous red phone box continues to stand for years to come.
BT also notified the Strangford community that its ‘focal point’ K6 kiosk was under threat of removal, when it announced its review in March.
Locals were upset by the news, with residents saying the historic icon had been converted into a lending library, which ‘brought people together’.
When BT said ‘unfortunately, it just isn’t used enough for us to carry on running it’
The box in Strangford had been converted into a lending library, which locals said ‘brought people together’ and helped to serve especially the town’s older residents who don’t drive and therefore can’t access the nearest library.
Elsewhere throughout the borough, there is a K6 phone box in situ on the Seahill Road in Craigavad, another of the corner of The Green and Shore Road in Kircubbin and at Ardmillan Road, off Killinchy Road outside Lisbane.
There is a kiosk within the grounds of Ballywhiskin caravan park off Whitchurch Road in Millisle, which has a working phone and was recently repainted, with locals saying it is checked by BT but that ‘no one ever uses it’. A rejuvenated red phonebook is also on display at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Holywood.
