The KX series of
telephone boxes in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
was introduced by
BT (British Telecom) in 1985. Following the privatisation of BT in 1984, the company decided to create a newly designed and improved take on the British telephone box, which at this point consisted of only
red telephone box
The red telephone box, a telephone kiosk for a public telephone designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, is a familiar sight on the streets of the United Kingdom, Malta, Bermuda and Gibraltar.
Despite a reduction in their numbers in recent years, ...
es which BT had recently acquired, the most common being the iconic
K6 box. These red boxes were considered flawed in parts by BT for several reasons, including cost, lack of ventilation, accessibility and maintenance. BT announced the £160 million series of new boxes, the KX series designed by
GKN
GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, England. It is a long-running business known for many decades as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. It can trace its origins back to 1759 an ...
, as well as announcing the eventual replacement of all existing telephone boxes. The main telephone box in the KX range is the KX100. Upon launch, there were five models in total. The boxes were produced at a rate of 5,000 a year, with the total count of all BT-owned kiosks reaching 137,000 by 1999, a number which has since decreased by more than seventy per cent.
Whilst the updated functions of the KX series were praised, the designs were widely criticised and were seen as inferior to the red telephone boxes. The plan to replace the red boxes was also criticised. Many of the models in the KX series were revamped graphically after BT changed their logo in 1991, and production of the KX100 stopped in 1996 with its replacement, the KX+, attempting to address the criticisms that the original KX100 had received by revising its design to incorporate elements of older red telephone boxes. Later versions of the KX+ incorporated
broadband
In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...
connection. BT was reported to have stopped making telephone boxes altogether in 2001, although this was later denied with the introduction of the ST6 in 2007, which saw the end of the KX series.
Background
In 1980, preparing for
privatisation
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
, Post Office Telephones, who owned all of the United Kingdom's
telephone box
A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; usually the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...
es, was renamed
British Telecom
BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...
, later to become simply BT. The most common telephone box in the United Kingdom was the
K6 red telephone box
The red telephone box, a telephone kiosk for a public telephone designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, is a familiar sight on the streets of the United Kingdom, Malta, Bermuda and Gibraltar.
Despite a reduction in their numbers in recent years, ...
, introduced in 1935. The newly formed BT underwent two telephone box projects in 1981. The most successful of the two was the introduction of
phonecard
A telephone card, calling card or phonecard for short, is a credit card-size plastic or paper card, used to pay for telephone services (often international or long-distance calling). It is not necessary to have the physical card except with a st ...
-operated telephone kiosks in July after a successful trial,
with the phones in the kiosks being named Cardphones. The other project was painting several of the remaining red telephone boxes in yellow, BT's new corporate colour, although upon the announcement in February 1981, it was stated that all of the red telephone boxes would be converted. This was harshly received by the public, with the ''
Daily Mail
The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
'' launching a campaign "against the yellow peril"
and questions were asked in
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
. In the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
, the
Earl of Gowrie
Earl of Gowrie is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of Scotland and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, both times for members of the Ruthven family. It takes its name from Gowrie, a historical region and ancient ...
, the Minister of State for Employment, called on BT "to abandon this ridiculous scheme". In the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
,
Mark Lennox-Boyd
Sir Mark Alexander Lennox-Boyd (born 4 May 1943) is a British Conservative politician.
Political career
Lennox-Boyd contested Brent South in October 1974, being defeated by Labour's Laurie Pavitt.
He was MP for Morecambe and Lonsdale fro ...
MP asked the then
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
,
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
, if she would treat the decision "with the greatest possible dismay". Thatcher, who herself was responsible for the privatisation, would only say that she could "see my honourable Friend's point".
Campaigning worked and BT shortly announced that only 90 of the 77,000 remaining traditional boxes had been painted different colours, that it was "as an experiment" and that no final decision had been reached.
Nonetheless, whilst they had sympathized with what the public saw as a cultural icon, BT quickly turned their attention to what they saw as flaws in all of Britain's telephone boxes. They considered them outdated and no longer of need to the public, finding that few people like using them, and noted their expensive cost, difficult maintenance and noted how they could not be used by handicapped people.
Furthermore, the boxes were noted for a lack of ventilation and little space. Although British Telecom had already introduced the yellow Booth 7A ("Oakham") kiosks in 1980 to several locations with limited floor space or extreme vandalism, it was with their privatisation in late 1984, that BT began planning for a scheme of new telephone boxes which improved on the previous telephone boxes and addressed their concerns.
Launch
In early 1985, British Telecom announced a £160 million modernisation scheme for the public telephone network inherited from the General
Post Office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
.
Described as "a major improvement to the public telephone service", the "new designs that were to be the most perfect telephone kiosks you could imagine."
They were both BT's first standardised telephone booths and their first altogether, having only been privatised less than half a year earlier. The new telephone boxes were named the KX series. Whilst it is unknown what the initials stand for, it is believed the "K" stands for kiosk, following the Post Office telephone box naming system.
The introduction of the new kiosks was also to see the eventual replacement of all existing prior telephone boxes.
In January 1985, Nick Kane, the Director of Marketing for BT Local Communications Services, announced the replacement plan and stated they were being replaced because they "no longer meet the needs of our customers. Few people like to use them. They are expensive and difficult to clean and maintain and cannot be used by handicapped people".
The first KX to be installed, a KX100, was unveiled in
Leicester Square
Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
BT later stated the KX models "were cheaper to maintain, more resistant to vandalism and were designed to blend in with any surroundings. Special attention was paid to environmental considerations, acoustics, weather protection, lighting and ventilation after intensive market research was conducted into customers' needs. The designs assisted customers with disabilities and allowed access to wheelchair users."
The KX series was not the first attempt to replace the red telephone box with regards to easier access, lower maintenance and brighter lighting, as they follow Post Office Telephone's "Croydon" telephone boxes from 1972.
The Croydon boxes, which featured a black handset silhouette with bright yellow paintwork, were erected in
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
,
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, as an experimental prototype to replace the red telephone boxes. However, whilst the trials were successful, the quality of the materials and design made it too expensive for the Post Office to mass-produce and the design was not adopted. Regardless, the design of the Croydon boxes proved an important influence on the KX100.
It was also described as looking "quite stunning" and as influencing the Australian
Telstra
Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...
telephone boxes.
Original models
The original KX telephone booths were designed by
GKN
GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, England. It is a long-running business known for many decades as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. It can trace its origins back to 1759 an ...
and DCA (David Carter Associates)
and are of light-weight construction and use an aluminum frame clad in stainless steel panels with anodised aluminium edging. They were also fitted with sound proofing, vandal-resistant panelling and "better lighting."
As had recently been retrofitted to several existing red telephone boxes, many of the coin-operated KX telephone boxes used the BT Payphone 600.
Kiosks of the KX series were introduced at a rate of 5,000 a year, and by 1999, the combined total of the KX series and acquired Post Office telephone boxes had reached 137,000. There were 100,000 KX100s introduced alone, although only 40,500 remain.
Although green bins to dispose of used BT phonecards had been added to already existing kiosks, the
phonecard
A telephone card, calling card or phonecard for short, is a credit card-size plastic or paper card, used to pay for telephone services (often international or long-distance calling). It is not necessary to have the physical card except with a st ...
-operated KX kiosks were the first to be introduced with them, although a minority of phonecard-operated KX kiosks did not feature the bin.
BT further tightened a number of these bins in late 1992 to take extra care that people can not steal disposed cards from them.
KX100
The first and most common KX, designed to be the direct successor to the K6, the KX100 is a four-sided rectangular box with a flat roof. Aside from the back panel, which is formed of stainless steel panels, the three other sides of the box are made of glass, with two large
window
A window is an opening in a wall, door, roof, or vehicle that allows the exchange of light and may also allow the passage of sound and sometimes air. Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent materia ...
panels set above and beneath a slim, black plastic modesty panel, also with a black plastic trim around the windows.
The same three sides of the booth stop short of the ground to provide ventilation, another improvement on the non-ventilated K6, and for litter accumulation. Initial deliveries had cylindrical legs, for leveling on site, a flat-sheet roof with upturned edges and a multi-panel back. A slightly updated model known as the Mk2 soon followed, without the adjustable legs and with a single sheet back panel and the more familiar 'biscuit tin lid' roof.
At launch, KX100s had smoked glass windows with lettering and logos printed on the inside face. To improve visibility of the kiosks - in particular during daylight hours - the printing was first moved onto the outside surface of the glass and then the smoked glass was dropped altogether. Later kiosks were all fitted with clear glass.
The door of the kiosk has a light action and features a bright-coloured moulded plastic panel and handle for easier opening than previous boxes. For the first KX100s, this part was bright yellow, whilst the Phonecard variants used a bright green. The payphone inside the coin-operated version was originally yellow with a blue phone, but this was later phased out.
The upper glass window panels carried the company logo, which upon launch, was the yellow dotted British Telecom 'T' logo. Changes to the panel and handle colour and BT logo were made in 1991 (see
1991 revamp), changes which adorn almost all remaining KX100s.
The KX100 was designed to be supplied with or without a door, depending on requirements, with the door version designed to be located on sites where complete weather and acoustic protection is needed. The overall unit was designed to be wide enough to allow wheelchair access. The open booth is designed for use on quieter sites yet still provides good weather protection and ease of access for the disabled. They can be used on single sites or suited back to back or side by side.
KX200
The KX200 is a hooded unit provided as a single or double pedestal version. Designed to be suitable for location in most street sites but also to be positioned indoors where acoustic protection is needed. They were designed to be especially accessible for people using wheelchairs and, as with the KX100, they are sometimes positioned back to back.
It consists of a back panel, a flat roof which also supports two glass panels which stretch down the booth but stop far short of the ground. These panels sport the BT logo.
KX300
The KX300 is a triangular unit designed so it could be used in groups, although many were erected alone. The triangular design of the KX300 ensures acoustic and weather protection. It was also designed to enable full use of available floor space and to provide better siting flexibility. As with the KX100, it has raised sides to prevent litter accumulation.
There are two versions, one with two glass sides, the other with one glass side and one fabricated side with acoustic panels and fittings for directory holders. It was essentially a triangular-based variant of the KX100. Several KX300s were fitted with doors that resemble the KX100 doors, although many were not.
KX410 and KX420
The KX410 and KX420 are two hooded phone booths on posts created specifically for sites with little available ground space or sites which are prone to vandalism. As such, there is no space for directories or customer instructions,
with the booth structures being made of aluminium alone, with the BT logo being on both the left and right of the structures, whilst hooded is a simple telephone. They were also considerably shorter than the other designs. The KX410, unlike the K420, was suitable for surface mounting.
These were not BT's first attempt at a post-situated telephone booth, as they follow the Booth 7A (or "Oakham" booths as they became known) which was a yellow booth used in areas of extreme vandalism introduced some years earlier.
KX520
For use indoors, such as in
shopping centre
A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof.
The first known collec ...
s, another design, the KX520, was introduced. This is essentially a telephone mounted to a post with two small windows joined at the top of the booth to the left and right whilst topped by a hood, underneath which is an extending tab which features the BT logo.
Public reaction
Red Phone Box, a website dedicated to the history of British telephone boxes, said that "nobody could deny the functionality of the designs as their main objectives were to be easy for disabled people to use and very easy to maintain, but everybody could deny the attractiveness of the designs."
BT later said that although the public liked parts of the designs, such as "the fact that they were lighter, more airy and more accessible for people with disabilities than the traditional style, customers felt that there was still room for improvement. Popular opinion was that the square shape seemed clinical and that something softer and more rounded would be preferable."
The scheme to replace the already existing red telephone boxes provoked a strong reaction from many members of the general public, with many disapproving of the removal of the red kiosks.
Despite public campaigning to revert the plan to remove the red boxes, and unlike with the campaign protesting against the yellow telephone boxes several years earlier, BT did not respond, and whilst some red telephone boxes remained, the KX project was completed in 1988.
The KX's reputation has not improved with age. In 2001, ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' referred to the KX100 as "utterly bland" and noting that since its introduction, BT "has done its utmost to turn the phone box from one of the most famous and elegant pieces of street furniture into the most boringly ugly. It might be more vandal proof, more accessible and more modern (in the worst sense of the word) but the KX100, even when feebly capped in a fake Gilbert Scott-style crown, looks plain nasty."
Alan Powers
Alan Powers (born 1955) is a British teacher, researcher and writer on twentieth-century architecture and design.
Early life
Powers was raised on the borders of Hampstead Heath and in Suffolk. His father Michael was an architect member of the ...
, an architectural historian who led the Thirties Society against BT newcomers in the mid-1980s, said "the clutter is appalling" and "nobody has made a worthy successor to Scott's
ed telephone box They're all utterly banal. Though I have recently seen a new phone in
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions.
Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...
ondonthat is very, very elegant. Maybe BT has finally got it right."
It was reported in 2008 that a local from
Ffair Rhos
Ffair Rhos (also known as Ffair-rhos) is a small village in the community of Ystrad Fflur, Ceredigion, Wales, which is 63.2 miles (101.8 km) from Cardiff and 167.8 miles (270 km) from London. Ffair Rhos is represented in the Senedd by ...
,
Cadwgan Cadwgan is a Welsh people, Welsh given name, meaning "battle glory" (from ''cad'' "battle" and ''gwogawn'' "glory"). The name occurs in the Mabinogion as the son of Iddon. The name Cadogan (disambiguation), Cadogan is derived from it.
Bearers of t ...
, uses a KX100 yards from his house to contact friends and run his business, as well as cleaning it and opening his window to hear it call, noting he does this so that BT will not remove the box, and that he will not have a home phone installed to help this.
BT's telephone boxes in the UK soon saw a rival with the introduction of
Mercury Communications
Mercury Communications was a national telephone company in the United Kingdom, formed in 1981 as a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless, to challenge the then-monopoly of British Telecom (BT). Although it proved only moderately successful at challe ...
own set of telephone booths, which were launched on 27 July 1988 with 26 booths at
Waterloo station
Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of t ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
The Machin-designed Mercury booth was at best accepted by the public and, at worst, positively hated. Examples of the response included "something from outer space", "pieces of fairground machinery" and "demented bird tables - complete with perches." but, and much more importantly to Mercury, they turned out to be non-profitable. The Mercury payphone sites closed down in 1995, with many of the sites taken over by Interphone, who went on to replace the Machin booths with their own housings.
In the 1988 Quality of Service report, the UK's public payphone system was listed as having a 96% reliability, compared to only 72% in 1987. As a result of the programme, there were 80,000 of the stainless steel design kiosks in service by 1996, in addition to 30,000 hooded or canopied phones and 15,000 of the original
red telephone box
The red telephone box, a telephone kiosk for a public telephone designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, is a familiar sight on the streets of the United Kingdom, Malta, Bermuda and Gibraltar.
Despite a reduction in their numbers in recent years, ...
es.
In 2001,
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
reported that the transition from the classic red telephone boxes to the KX telephone boxes was successful in reducing vandalism.
changed their logo in 1991, now featuring a new typeface for the newly shortened name "BT" (prior to this they used their full name British Telecom), and an unpopular stylized figure of a piper. The KX100, 200 and 300 were updated accordingly. The coin-operated KX100 now featured a pink moulded plastic panel and handle, where as before it was yellow.
Variations of the new logo now featured on all booths in place of the 'T' logo. The variations were namely a coloured version, a grey version and a larger, grey piper on its own. The typeface used to identify the type of box atop the entrance (i.e. "Telephone" or "Phonecard") was changed, now featuring an italicized
font, often beneath a red line. Certain boxes in mostly Welsh-speaking parts of Wales use "Teleffon" instead of "Telephone" on the box.
The KX410 and 420 were not revamped, and remain today in their original 1985 guise. The logo on the KX520 features a full colour version of the BT logo.
The revamp was followed by the installation of the BT's 100,000th telephone box, a KX100 at
, on 29 June 1992, after the village was recently named the closest to the centre of the British Isles. Upon installation, BT also included a
to explain its significance reading "You are calling from the BT payphone that marks the centre of Great Britain." In fact, the phone is 4.2 miles (6.8 km) from the true centre.
, and in BT's A1141 list of unique alphabetical Telephone Exchange codes, the code for Dunsop Bridge is DSB. Whilst the
...