K6 PHONE BOX - IT'S GOT TO GO BUT NOT TOO FAR PLEASE

IT'S GOT TO GO

BUT NOT TOO FAR PLEASE

A red (K6) phone box in a tucked away corner of Norfolk Road in Cliftonville has 'got to go - but not too far' say ward councillors Linda Aldred, Doug Clark and Clive Hart.

The telephone box stands on what was originally the side entrance to the St Georges Hotel but following the hotels demolition it is now left secluded on the corner of an empty area that has been boarded up. For the past two years the ward councillors have been negotiating with TDC and BT to get the telephone box removed, following reports from residents that it was often being used for all kinds of illicit activities, including drug dealing.

Cllr. Clive Hart said "locally, BT originally wanted several thousand pounds to remove the telephone box and finding the funding was proving difficult. However, it now looks like we can move it from the old St Georges site and keep it for the town for just one pound".

The councillors discovered a national scheme on the internet where BT were allowing organisations or individuals to take some of the last remaining historic red K6 phone boxes for a one pound payment, and Margate Charter Trustees then offered to help.

Justice of the Peace and Chair of the Cliftonville PACT, Cllr. Doug Clark said "we love this piece of street furniture but it's secluded position in Norfolk Road made it very difficult to use it for it's proper purpose and unfortunately, ideal for all the wrong purposes".

Cllr. Linda Aldred said "we sincerely hope an innovative way to keep the red telephone box locally can be found, but it really needs to be in a prominent position for all to safely enjoy our little bit of telecommunications heritage".

BT have now removed the payphone apparatus from inside the phone box in Cliftonville and a planning application has recently been received by TDC to site a K6 type phone box on the stone pier harbour arm in Margate, together with advertisements and a parking meter (application no: F/TH/10/0032).

Note: Seventy-thousand K6 phone boxes were installed in Britain’s streets. It reigned unchallenged as the public call-box until the 1960s, when incessant vandalism and the high cost of maintenance led the Post Office, and subsequently British Telecom, to commission a new generation of more accessible phone boxes.

Published by Cllrs. Linda Aldred, Doug Clark & Clive Hart - 44 Northdown Road, Cliftonville.