Southport councillor negotiates restoration of iconic telephone boxes
Two iconic telephone boxes close to Southport Town Hall are being restored to their former glory after a local councillor won his campaign to have them repaired.
Cllr David Barton has announced that work on the dual boxes on Corporation Street, which are among the last of their kind still standing in Lancashire, has begun this week.
They will be restored to full working order next month when a new tenant moves into the kiosk where they are sited.
Cllr Barton, a leading campaigner for the restoration and regeneration of the town centre, said the work follows months of negotiation with the property owner after he spotted the need for repairs during a town centre audit.
Cllr Barton, who represents Dukes Ward, said: “Following detailed negotiations with the owner I can confirm that a new tenant is expected to move into the kiosk in January and that work to repair the two telephone boxes has begun.
“The telephone boxes have fallen into disrepair since being sold by BT in 2008 however I must praise the property owner being very supportive of the need for repairs and to preserve this part of the town’s heritage.
“This goes to show that, rather than threatening legal action and the full force of the local authority to try and get things done, mutual respect and sincerity are key to driving further future inward investment into Southport.
“I cannot thank the property owner and his property agent enough for their assistance and co-operation despite the undue and unnecessary witch hunting in some quarters recently when this issue was already being taken care of.”
The two telephone boxes are of the K6 variety, designed in 1935 to commemorate the silver jubilee of King George V.
The K6 was consequently sometimes known as the “Jubilee” kiosk. It went into production in 1936 and was the first red telephone kiosk to be extensively used outside London
In 1935 there had been 19,000 public telephones in the UK: by 1940, thanks to the K6, there were 35,000
The latest restoration work will mean five phone boxes in Southport have now been restored.
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