An astonishing “graveyard” of British phone boxes may be found just to the north of Sussex, tucked away close to a railroad track.
Once upon a time, the red phone box was recognized all over the world for being a common sight on street corners in the United Kingdom.
However, beginning in the 1980s and continuing today, the proliferation of mobile phones has contributed to a fall in the use of landlines.
According to SurreyLive, a local restoration firm that set up the nation’s largest “telephone box graveyard” in Merstham is taking action after decades of abandonment, during which many of the boxes were left in a condition of disrepair. The graveyard is located in Merstham.
Following a period during which they were allowed to deteriorate due to corrosion, the renowned boxes have been restored to their previous brilliance by Unicorn Restorations.
At the location just outside of Redhill, employees spend up to 30 hours stripping each ancient kiosk, repainting them in the same hues of red that were formerly stipulated by the General Post Office, and putting in new glass to complete the aesthetic of the renovated kiosks.
After undergoing the revitalization process, they are offered for sale at a variety of rates, the range of which can be anywhere from just under £4,000 to as much as £20,000, with the older designs fetching a higher premium.
The K2, the K6, and the K8 are the three traditional designs of the red telephone kiosks that are included here.
The K6, which was built by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V’s coronation in 1935, is often known as THE red telephone box. Scott’s design was commissioned to honor the occasion of the Silver Jubilee. Because of the installation of 60,000 of them around the United Kingdom, the K6 has come to symbolize what many people consider to be the prototypical red phone box.
The K2, which was produced for the first time in 1926, is considered to be the “original” phone box. In 1968, the K8, which featured a more futuristic design and was introduced, was a radical departure from the K2 and was intended to reflect the spirit of the 1960s. The K8 was the last of the red kiosks to be manufactured, and today only a small number of them are still in use.
The restoration professionals are also able to rebuild the interior of these kiosks and offer the option to personalize the dial center so that it carries your current number but with the old exchange or with a number from the past that is memorable to you.
According to what is said on their website, they were responsible for supplying the landmarks that can be found all throughout the United Kingdom as well as in the center of London. Such examples are Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, The Tower of London, and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Also, they were responsible for the restoration of a large number of notable kiosks for BT, The Corporation of London, and English Heritage.
Due to the fact that they supplied period pieces for film and television productions like as Harry Potter, Paddington, and the John Lewis Christmas advertisements, their artistry has even been displayed on the big screen.
It’s possible that in this day and age, there is no longer any requirement for these landmarks to remain, but it’s probably comforting to know that they’re going to continue on to live a second life.
Photographer Nicolas Ritter disclosed in an interview with the Daily Mail in 2016 that he went to the yard in 2012, when he was just beginning his career as an assistant.
He said: “My time spent at the telephone graveyard proved to be an extremely rewarding experience for me. Given that phone booths are such an iconic representation of British culture, the experience was reminiscent of going on a trip through the nation’s past.”
The British used to have a thing for these instantly recognizable, vividly colored boxes; by the time the 1980s rolled around, there were more than 73,000 of them spread out over the country.
Sadly, not long after that, those numbers began to decrease, and it is claimed that there are only 21,000 of them still standing now.
Yet, as a result of the work done by Unicorn Restorations, it is now abundantly obvious that people in the United Kingdom continue to have a strong affinity for the traditional phone booths, despite the fact that they may no longer be used for the function for which they were designed.
