Council keeping red telephone boxes mothballed
LDRSA city's famous row of red phone boxes will not be lining up in their longstanding home anytime soon.
The nine booths were removed from Market Street in Preston for refurbishment in December 2024 and were due back in place by spring.
Eight of the Grade II-listed cubicles, arranged in pairs, formed the longest line of traditional call boxes in the country - with the ninth standing slightly apart from the others.
Preston City Council has said the phone boxes will be kept safely in storage for the foreseeable future - both to protect them from ongoing streetworks in the area, but also to ensure their full potential is dialled up when they do finally make a return.
The authority - which acquired the booths in 2021 amid concern about their deteriorating condition - said before they were sent for restoration it planned to turn them into audio-visual and art displays.
They were disconnected by BT more than a decade ago.
The city council has told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it was considering installing "data cabling" to the cubicles so they can be used for "a wider variety of art installations".
The council was also concerned recently-begun renovation work at nearby Amounderness House - the former magistrates' court building, which is being converted into flexible office space - along with upgrades to the public realm on Market Street as part of the city's "Illuminate and Integrate" project and the planned overhaul of Friargate South, could take the shine off the spiced-up booths.
A council spokesman did not specify when the booths would return but said with work due to start in spring on pavements around the site, they would stay locked up to avoid getting dusty and grimy.
"Also if they come back empty they will be a magnet for anti-social behaviour," he added.
The boxes were sent to East Yorkshire for an £80,000 facelift returning them to their "vibrant" red hue.
Six of the kiosks are adorned with the crowns of George V and George VI - meaning they must date back to before 1953.
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