Derelict London - Photography, Social History and Guided Walking Tours
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  • Homepage
  • 22 Years of Derelict London
  • Author's Guided Tours of London
    • Minories to Poplar
    • Woolwich Alldayer
    • Roman Road
    • Whitechapel & Bethnal Green
    • Derelict Limehouse & Poplar
    • Lost Docks of Wapping
    • Isle of Dogs
    • Grand Surrey Canal
    • London's Lost Rivers Tours
    • Shadwell & Stepney
    • Silvertown
    • Bow Creek: River Lea from Bromley by Bow to Leamouth via Canning Town
    • Croydon Canal
    • Dartford guided walk
    • Hammersmith
    • East Finchley to Gospel Oak
    • London's Lost Music Venues
    • Tower Hamlets Special
  • 2025 New Pics
  • 2024 New Pics
  • Books by Paul Talling
  • Contact
  • Dereliction and Beyond...Then and Now Photos
    • Derelict London 2008 Book Then and Now Pics
    • Then and Now Pics South of the River
    • Then and Now Pics North of the River
  • London Transport
    • Derelict London Tube Trains and Stations
    • Derelict London Railway Stations,Lines and Rolling Stock
    • Derelict London Trams
  • Factories and Warehouses
    • North of the Thames Factories and Warehouses
    • South of the Thames Factories and Warehouses
  • Derelict London Homes
    • Homes North of the Thames
    • Homes South of The Thames
    • Derelict homes now Demolished
  • Derelict London Cinemas
  • Derelict London Hospitals
    • Hospitals North of the River
    • Hospitals South of the River
    • Hospitals: Then & Now pics
  • Derelict London Pools and Baths
  • Music History
    • London's Lost Music venues 2
  • Various Derelict London Buildings
  • Derelict London Pubs
    • North London
    • Derelict East London Pubs >
      • East London Pubs from Dereliction to Demolition
      • East London Pubs - Dead Pubs to Conversion
      • East London Pubs Back from the Brink
    • Central London
    • West & South West London
    • South & South East London Pubs
  • Derelict London Cemetery & Churches
  • Derelict London Hotels and Restaurants
  • Graffiti & Streetart
  • Misc London Derelict pics
  • Derelict London Cafes
  • People
  • Porticos and Pillars
  • Shopping Trolleys
  • Derelict London Shops
  • Signs and Murals
  • Derelict London Sportsgrounds
  • Post Offices
  • Derelict London Toilets
  • Toys
  • Derelict London Telephone Boxes
  • War - Bunkers and Pillboxes
  • Waterways and Wharves
  • Wildlife
  • Vehicles
  • Long Lost Burial Grounds
  • London Riots 2011: The Aftermath
  • Derelict London Boats
  • London's Long Lost Sports Grounds
  • Derelict Kent
    • Derelict Kent DA postcodes
    • Derelict Kent ME postcodes
    • Derelict Kent TN postcodes
  • Derelict Essex
    • Derelict Essex RM postcodes
    • Derelict Essex SS Postcodes
    • Derelict Essex CO postcodes
  • Derelict London Public Buildings
  • Derelict London Offices
  • Sponsors wanted!
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies Info
  • T-Shirts
Derelict London - Photography, Social History and Guided Walking Tours
Picture
​Derelict London Telephone Boxes & Kiosks 

Derelict London Telephone Boxes & Kiosks (plus some overgrown and very run down examples...)

Broken payphone in South London
Bermondsey
Broken orange payphone in South London
Blackheath
Interphone payphone kiosk in North London
Euston
Redundant derelict red K6 telephone box in South London
Wandsworth
classic domed design K2 telephone box designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott
Forest Hill
Redundant Interphone kiosk in Central London
City of London
anti social behaviour in dirty South London phonebox
Peckham
Vandalised K2 red telephone box in South London
New Cross

The Continued Decline of the Public Telephone Box

When was the last time you actually used a public payphone? 

Once one of London’s (and England’s) defining icons, the red public call box (along with  all subsequent boxes and kiosks) has been rendered virtually obsolete by the mobile phone. In Summer 2017 the BBC reported that British Telecom is to scrap half of the UK's remaining telephone boxes and focus on the ones in locations where people are more likely to use them. BT has already reduced its phone boxes from a peak of 92,000 in 1992 before the advent of mobile phones reduced the relevance of the traditional pay phone to the current day figure of 40,000 of which 7,000 are the traditional red phone boxes.

Phone boxes cost £6 million annually to repair and maintain due to being a magnet for vandals. More than half of phone boxes lose money and the number of calls is declining by more than 20% per year.​
redundant telephone phone box on the New Kent Road
Disused vandalised red public phone box in Elephant & Castle, London
Elephant & Castle
Litter in disused red K2 phone booth in London
Clerkenwell EC1 - The Continued Decline of the Public Telephone Box strewn with prostitute calling cards and other litter
Clerkenwell
Disused red telephone box in Archway with plants growing in it (popup greenhouse?)
Archway, N19
Redundant BT phonebox being removed in North London
the advent of mobile phones reduced the relevance of the traditional pay phone to the current day figure of 40,000
​
The kiosks with orange coloured phones were owned by Interphone. These have remained derelict for well over a decade after Ofcom stripped them of its licence and they went into voluntary liquidation. The goverment (Oftel/Ofcom) changed the conditions of entitlement in 1999 & 2002. Because of these changes, the companies had to pay increased tax rates to the goverment and since that mobile usage increased vastly they could not afford to pay employees,maintain kiosks,pay expensive taxes and pay BT line rental for each payphone. 

Many Interphone kiosks have been replaced with the black boxes used by Spectrum Interactive. Others have been removed by local authorities.
classic domed design K6 telephone box made from cast iron with a domed roof designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott
smashed glass panel of phone box in Mile End
dirty redundant phone box in South London
Once one of London’s (and England’s) defining icons, the red public call box (along with  all subsequent boxes and kiosks) has been rendered virtually obsolete by the mobile phone
Prostitute calling cards in red phone in Piccadilly, Central London
the independant pay phone companies had to pay increased tax rates to the goverment and since that mobile usage increased vastly they could not afford to pay employees,maintain kiosks,pay expensive taxes and pay BT line rental for each payphone.
 rendered virtually obsolete by the mobile phone.
Broken k6 telephone boxes in East London
smashed up phone box in North London

PLUMSTEAD SE18 - TELEPHONE BOX

In an Industrial Estate in Plumstead sat this decaying ex telephone box. Nothing to note about this industrial estate except that it was once the site of a football ground - The Manor Ground was home of Arsenal (then known as Woolwich Arsenal FC) before they moved to Highbury. Much more about this subject is on the London's Lost Losts Sportsgrounds section elsewhere on this website. The industrial estate has since been bulldozed and housing is planned for the site. 
abandoned telephone box in Plumstead, SE London
Decaying rare wooden telephone box in South London
derelict wooden telephone box on abandoned industrial estate

POLICE PHONE BOXES 

​These telephones were linked directly to the local police station allowing patrolling officers to keep in contact with the station, reporting anything unusual, requesting help if necessary, or even to detain suspects until a vehicle could be sent to transport them to the station or to jail. A light on top of the box would flash to alert an officer that he/she was requested to contact the station. Members of the public could also use the phone to contact a police station in an emergency.

Police boxes played an important role in police work between 1928 and 1970, when they were phased out following the introduction of personal radios. 

In 1997, a new police box was erected outside the Earl's Court tube station equipped with CCTV cameras and a telephone to contact police. The telephone ceased to function in April 2000 when London's telephone numbers were changed, but the box remained despite the fact that funding for its upkeep and maintenance had long since been exhausted. In 2005, the Metropolitan Police resumed funding the refurbishment and maintenance of the box (which is something of a tourist attraction due to the Doctor Who association) 
police box was erected outside the Earl's Court tube station equipped with CCTV cameras and a telephone to contact police.
These telephones were linked directly to the local police station allowing patrolling officers to keep in contact with the station, reporting anything unusual
Police boxes played an important role in police work between 1928 and 1970, when they were phased out following the introduction of personal radios.
A light on top of the box would flash to alert an officer that he/she was requested to contact the station. Members of the public could also use the phone to contact a police station in an emergency.

Paul Talling's Derelict London - all photographs are copyright © 2003-2025
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