Village celebrates as BT reprieves its red phone box

The article “Village celebrates as BT reprieves its red phone box,” published on The Telegraph by Alice Klein, is a news story covering one community’s battle to save their red telephone box from being scrapped.

A community in dismay

To the people of Burnham Norton, their red telephone box is as much a landmark as the views that surround them. So, when they got the news that BT planned to scrap it, a feeling of dismay sunk in. They simply had to save it.

Thankfully, they had help from Richard Gilbert Scott, the son of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott who designed the original red box in the 1920s.

Saving the red telephone box

Richard, a resident of the village of Burnham Norton, led a campaign to save the red telephone box and keep it in the community.

The campaign was a success. BT reversed their decision to scrap the village’s red telephone box after Richard wrote a letter to the chief executive. He admits, “It was probably because of who my father is, and because I live next door to the kiosk."

The nation’s most iconic design?

Designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1924, the red telephone box is one of the nation’s most iconic landmarks. In 2015, it was voted the nation’s favourite design ahead of the Spitfire, Union Jack and Double Decker Bus in a poll of 2,000 UK adults.

You can read about Burnham Norton’s successful campaign to save their red telephone box on the Daily Telegraph