It’s hoped the empty phone box can be transformed into something that will save lives

A project to refurbish the empty phone box to create a mini medical centre, led by Leanne Reynolds, Wednesday 13 May 2026 starts to take shape near Broadbury Road police station in Bristol. Pictured is funeral director Michelle Chenoweth.(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach Plc)

Work to turn the abandoned shell of a phone box into a mini medical centre for the community has gotten underway in South Bristol, a street away from where two teenagers were stabbed to death two years ago.

The initiative is the idea of Leanne Reynolds, who runs the Bin The Blade campaign in Bristol, and also is the city’s representative for the Daniel Baird Foundation, that promotes the wider use and installation of bleed kits.

The phone box in Leinster Avenue, in Knowle West, has been unused and empty for years, but work has now begun to restore it inside and out. Work includes installing a range of medical equipment, including a defibrillator and a bleed kit, which can be used in an emergency if someone suffers an injury leading to dangerous blood loss.

Last year, Bin The Blade was involved in the first such mini medical centre, when local arts firm Circomedia bought a phone box in Portland Square in St Pauls. The medical centre there has been well used – the defibrillator had been deployed by local residents three times in just the first few weeks.

Bin The Blade is now looking to expand the idea to other phone boxes around the city, and the one in Leinster Avenue is the first. It’s around the corner from Ilminster Avenue where, in January 2024, teenagers Max Dixon and Mason Rist were fatally stabbed.

READ MORE: Empty St Paul’s phone box converted into lifesaving medical station

Among the volunteers joining Leanne was Michelle Chenoweth, a funeral director at LJ Guyan in Keynsham, who grew up in Knowle and said she was inspired to get involved after organising the funeral of someone who died as a result of knife crime.

“I’ve been supporting Leanne Reynolds in her campaign for a couple of years now. Knowle is where I was brought up so the area is important to me,” she said.

A project to refurbish the empty phone box to create a mini medical centre, led by Leanne Reynolds, Wednesday 13 May 2026 starts to take shape near Broadbury Road police station in Bristol. (Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach Plc)

“I was a funeral director for someone who sadly passed away through knife crime, and looking after that family and seeing everything that Leanne does, it just meant a lot to me to be able to support her in doing these things,” she added.

“Today we are restoring a phone box and it’s going to be a medical station. It will hopefully have a bleed kit in here, hopefully a defibrillator, so that there are points locally for people to get to if they need to,” she added.