‘Ugly’ phone boxes that blight UK streets should be removed, says thinktank
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jul/19/ugly-phone-boxes-blight-uk-streets-should-be-removed-thinktank
by F0urLeafCl0ver
‘Ugly’ phone boxes that blight UK streets should be removed, says thinktank
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jul/19/ugly-phone-boxes-blight-uk-streets-should-be-removed-thinktank
by F0urLeafCl0ver
26 comments
I agree with this idea, hopefully some of the phone boxes removed could be replaced with urinals to tackle the issue of public urination.
[Interesting long read](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/apr/28/last-phone-boxes-bt-payphones-uk) about the UK’s last remaining phone boxes.
Payphones are a key resource for people who do not have a cellphone.
Considering they already have power and phone lines maybe make them into a public WiFi hub built into something pleasing to the eye.
Why is it that a think-tank saying something is considered news
Ok. They are widely useless nowadays, anyway. Wasted space.
Replace them with rubbish bins. Make it easier on you dirty dirty people to keep the streets clean.
Is there a practical reason beyond ugliness? Is this thinktank just old ladies discussing what’s nice and what’s not nice?
The phone box outside mine in use all the time.
Pretty sure smoking crack is not the intended purpose though…
Or just repurpose them, plenty have been turned into defib stations etc.
The one outside my office in Luton is used as a urinal, drug consumption area and on one occasion an area for the fingering of a person’s bum
What about the multiple telegraph poles now littering every street, thanks to IX wireless throwing poles up everywhere in an attempt to get faster broadband rolled out? Now we have dual infrastructure and street furniture littering the pavements and it looks like a complete dogs dinner. All for WiFi to the home which runs significantly slower than FTTP.
Boo no. I like them, I think they’re iconic. Especially the ones in rural areas.
We must defend the great british right to piss in disused phone boxes………we shall fight them on the beaches…..
I would turn them into one-stop mobile care centres.
Chargers for all current types of connector. Wifi. Perhaps even a public calling app that acts pretty much exactly how a landline used to. You scan a QR into your phone, and can then make a free call over the WiFi (almost like WhatsApp, but for people who don’t have it) to a landline/mobile number.
Oh, and a chair.
Full report available on the [Createstreets website](https://www.createstreets.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/BoxBlight_final-1.pdf).
They’re free use already, just not maintained very well. Someone mentioned the Australian method (free wifi, USB charging) and I 100% think that should be looked into over here
Less of an eyesore then ugly glass bricks that keep replacing nice looking buildings
Think tank a bit late on this one. They are in the process of being removed. It’s no going to be overnight. There’s none left in my town as they began removing them years ago slowly. Calm down, they’ll get around to it.
I mean, they’re just vandalised, graffiti’d or used as public urinals. I see no benefit to keeping them really. End of an era for sure, but they’ve well overstayed their welcome
Those are for phoning people? I thought they were poorly designed public toilets.
What I don’t understand is that at one point we made the world’s most iconic phone box design, and then someone decided nah, it should be a grey steel box.
Does seem a bit off that they expect compensation for loss of advertising revenue. I mean did they pay in the first place for the unlimited right to advertise?
In other words, as millions of people use them each year, and they are something that distinguishes our streets from those of Paris or New York, they are a net benefit. Plus, if there is to be graffiti, why not on these ‘blank canvases’ amenable to cleaning instead of nice buildings?
I don’t think the phone boxes are the problem tbh really, many of the main cities should be gutted too to be honest, just dilapidated concrete shit holes. Even the major cities are bland and an eyesore.
am for this honestly.
The ones we have in my part of east london are absolutely filthy, seen people doing drugs in them a couple of times
I don’t mind them being removed. But as someone who leaves his phone at home it’s annoying that these days most shops and restaurants won’t let you borrow their phone.