Image Courtesy of author: 0x010C – Wikimedia Commons
What’s more British than a red telephone box? According to a survey last year, NOTHING! Their design really has stood the test of time and resonates with people from around the world as ‘iconically British.’
Designed in 1920, when fixed line telephones were in their prime and not everyone had access to one in their home, these telephone boxes were commonplace on British streets. Of course, over the years the adoption of landlines in homes became more common. Fast forward to the 21st Century and people barely use their landline at home, let alone a public call box, since the widespread growth of mobile phones and smartphones.
Over the years the number of red telephone boxes has dwindled, with many smaller towns having lost them completely. Large cities and tourist destinations have kept a number of them, but they are rarely used to make calls anymore. It would be sad to see them disappear into obscurity altogether. Whilst some have been turned in to pop up coffee stations and the like, many are simply neglected and unused.
A New York company named Bar Works Inc wants to change all that, and bring communications back to the heart of these K6 telephone boxes, which have a mere pavement footprint of just 3 square foot! Bar Works, plan to convert some of these unused K6 boxes into micro offices in cities across the UK.
Initially 15 of the old telephone kiosks will be retrofitted with Wi-Fi access, a printer/scanner, 25 inch screen, coffee machine and a bank of chargers to connect devices to. Access to these micro offices can be gained through the Podworks Club mobile app, which can unlock the kiosks at any time of day or night. Subscription to the service is expected to cost around £20 per month.
The kiosks will be fairly secure, with access only available through the app, Bar Works Inc, say there will also be some CCTV monitoring in place, although items in the boxes will be of minimal value.
The first of these offices is expected to open in July this year, with others following. The full list of locations is not yet available but London, Edinburgh and Leeds are definitely on the list.
Chief Executive of Bar Works Inc, Jonathan Black says, “It’s an alternative to, say, Starbucks, but obviously it provides you with total privacy,”
While the boxes may be small, they provide executives, entrepreneurs and others who like somewhere to connect their devices and do some work quietly and conveniently while on the move. We will be waiting to see how they’re fitted out and whether they will be suitable for taller / larger customers to use comfortably. The idea is certainly an interesting one which keeps the iconic red boxes on the streets of Britain’s cities for future generations to enjoy.