Tourists and visitors to London stand in line to have their photograph taken beside a red phone box, as the popularity of the famous booths endures in the social media age as they approach their 100th anniversary.
The famous red phone box was designed by architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott for a competition in 1924.
BT estimates there are now around 20,000 remaining working payphones across the UK, around 3,000 of which are in traditional red kiosks.
The number of phone boxes peaked in the 1990s at around 100,000, BT said, and dwindled with the rise of the mobile phone.
Among the most photographed of the remaining red phone boxes are the booths near Parliament Square in central London, close to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.
They have drawn queues of tourists, waiting to pose for selfies beside them, in recent years.
Sarah Gibson, listing team leader for London and the South East for Historic England, said the booths near Parliament Square are listed at Grade II and contribute to the “really rich texture” of the streetscape.
“The red telephone box is kind of symbolic – it’s a typical British building type and I think people have nostalgia for that,” she said.
The cast-iron kiosks, square with a domed roof, are “historic street furniture”, Ms Gibson added.
Lee Copeland, of the Red Phone Box and Post Box Appreciation Society, which has more than 1,800 members on Facebook, said red phone boxes are “as British as fish and chips”.
The 52-year-old former serviceman from North Yorkshire, who has a red telephone box in his garden that is converted to a mini bar with music and disco lights, described the kiosks as “iconic”.
READ MORE: The iconic cherry red phone box is busting back to life across Yorkshire
“Historically they were the lifeline for couples in love, so that they could communicate,” he said.
“Kids used to shelter in them from the rain, and 30 years ago children would make reverse charge calls to their parents.”
Mr Copeland said they “look as good today as the day they were built” and that booths are seen around the world, “snapped up by collectors wanting their own piece of nostalgia”.
The K2 kiosk was Britain’s first red telephone box, with the K6 design following in 1936 – refined by Sir Giles to mark George V’s Silver Jubilee.
BT estimates that 98% of the adult population now use a mobile phone, and that with significant improvements to mobile coverage there has been a huge decline in the usage of payphones across the UK.
The telecommunications giant introduced its Adopt a Kiosk programme in 2008, and more than 7,200 phone boxes have been taken on by communities across the UK for £1 each.
The kiosks can be adopted by community or parish councils and registered charities, and alternative uses include housing defibrillator units and libraries.
Around 1,000 of BT’s kiosks are currently up for grabs across the UK, and BT continues to review its remaining estate of payphones, removing those that are no longer being used, in line with rules set out by Ofcom.
Ofcom’s criteria, which aim to protect phone booths that are needed from removal, have regard to factors including mobile network coverage.
It also considers where a booth is located in an area with a high frequency of accidents or suicides; 52 or more calls have been made from them over the past 12 months; or there is other evidence that a phone box is reasonably needed at a site – for example, where it is being used to make calls to helplines such as Childline or Samaritans.
To add stories and photos to Historic England’s list of entries for the phone boxes, go to https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/missing-pieces
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