Phone Boxes of the World

The British Post Office formal name for these was unattended public call offices, but they're also known as phone boxes, phone booths and telephone kiosks. Here are pictures of some of the phone boxes that I have visited on my travels. (It is getting increasingly more difficult to find a phone box in some towns and cities, and in some places I've only been able to find a payphone, without a booth of its own.)

Antwerp, Belgium [62 KB]
Belfast, Northern Ireland [86 KB]
Benicassim, Spain [61 KB]
Boulogne, France [14 KB]
Brussles, Belgium [31 KB]
Bilaystok, Poland [60 KB]
Calais, France [8 KB]
Copenhagen, Denmark [135 KB]
Edinburgh, Scotland [130 KB]
Florence, Italy [109 KB]
Glasgow, Scotland [155 KB]
Gothenberg, Sweden [46 KB]
Halle, Germany [83 KB]
Kaunas, Lithuania [76 KB]
Keflavik, Iceland [342 KB]
Lille, France [746 KB]
London, England (Marble Arch) [19 KB]
London, England (BT Archives, Holborn) [200 KB]
London, England (Arnos Grove Station) [288 KB]
London, England (Southgate) [187 KB]
Los Angeles, USA (Universal Studios' "London Street" set) [83 KB]
Leuven, Belgium [31 KB]
Marseillan, France [60 KB]
Martlesham, England (BT Research Labs phonebox graveyard) [12 KB]
Newcastle, England [352 KB]
Paris, France [92 KB]
Perth, Scotland [113 KB]
Portrush, Northern Ireland [88 KB]
Prague, Czech Republic [76 KB]
Reykavik, Iceland [529 KB]
Rotterdam, Netherlands [40 KB]
Tampere, Finland [93 KB]
Vik, Iceland [515 KB]
Vilnius, Lithuania [96 KB]
Volendam, Netherlands [50 KB]

You can read a description of early British Post Office kiosks.

Speciality Phone Boxes:

A redundant phonebox. That is the sad fate of many UK phone boxes. Thanks to Andy Newham for this picture of a "removal notice" on a payphone in Alnam Village. The notice was dated 25 Aug 2016 and was still present (when photographed) four years later. Note the cobwebs!

A joke phonebox (detail 1) (detail 2). A happier fate for this repurposed phonebox. Thanks to Andy Newham for these pictures of a phonebox in Litton Village, photographed in August 2021.

A christmas cracker. Seasonal decorations at the village phonebox. Thanks to Andy Newham for this scene in Handley Village, photographed in December 2021.

A humanitarian phone booth. This payphone generates money for good causes. Thanks to Andy Newham for this picture from Lokrum Island, Croatia, photographed in October 2022.

A K1 phonebox from the 1940s. In 1943 the village of Tyneham in Dorset was commandeered to be used in training for the D-Day landings. The villagers were never allowed to return and the area is still part of the Lulworth ranges used for training the Tank Regiment. Open to walkers during summer holidays and some weekends. Thanks to Andy Newham for this picture from Tyneham, Dorset, photographed in April 2024.

A defibrillator booth. A pair of telephone boxes, with the right-hand one re-purposed in the now common mode to house a defibrillator. But look carefully! The left hand one is actually being used to make a telephone call!. Thanks to Andy Newham for this picture from Bourneville, Birmingham, photographed in March 2024.

Other sites of interest:

Connected Earth is a is a UK network of organisations, primarily museums, that preserve the history of telecommunications in the UK.
Waymarking.com red telephone boxes is a photo-sharing/geo-tagging site with pictures of red (Gilbert Scott) phoneboxes (some in unusual locations).
LightStraw's album of the different UK kiosk designs
UnicorN restorations are a firm who restore kiosks.

Book: The British Phonebox by Nigel Linge, Andy Sutton (ISBN 978144566308, 2017)
Book: Telephone Boxes by Gavin Stamp (in the series Chatto Curiosities of the High Street), (ISBN 9780701133665, 1989).


[Return to main index]


Author: wgtwalker at wgtw.co.uk
Date Posted: Sep 2024