Ringing the changes: how Britain’s red phone boxes are being given new life

It's a design classic, but in these days of ubiquitous mobile phones, only 10,000 of the red kiosks remain on the streets. Can they survive the next decade?

John Farmer, who describes himself as an activist shareholder, is a man with a mission - to save Britain's red phone boxes. These were once a feature of every high street in the country, but now number only 10,000 or so (and half of those are decorative rather than operational). At the recent annual general meeting of British Telecom, which even in the age of the mobile phone has a statutory obligation to maintain a payphone network, Farmer demanded that more be done to maintain the traditional red boxes. It was a point he has made at past AGMs - always, he says, to audience applause.

In 2015 the traditional red phone box was voted the greatest British design of all time, ahead of the Routemaster bus, the Spitfire, the union jack and Concorde. It was designed in 1924 by the architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, whose other creations include Liverpool's Anglican cathedral and Battersea and Bankside power stations. Many believe Scott's design echoes the tomb that the architect Sir John Soane built for his wife in 1815.