The History of Alton's Red Telephone Box

Alton Telephone Box in 2011

The K6 phone box was introduced in 1936 to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the coronation of King George V. The “Jubilee Kiosk”, as it became known, was designed by English architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960) and was similar, but smaller than its predecessor the K2, also designed by Sir Giles. The older K2 had not featured outside London, but the “Jubilee” model became the first genuinely standard telephone box to be installed all over the country.

On their introduction, Kiosk no. 6’s were given to every town or village with a post office, regardless of cost. As a result, more than 8,000 new boxes were installed in 1936 and by the end of production in 1968 there were nearly 70,000 in Britain.

It is thought that Alton's Red Telephone Box has been in situ since the late 1930s.

Although there is no post office in Alton now there have been four. In the 1930s Paul Brailsford of Honeycroft Farm (David's grandfather) was Secretary of Ashover Show. He thought it would help him do his job if there was a phone and Post Office. The Post Office management said yes if he would run it, so he did. If you look at the right hand gate post of the entrance to the farm yard there are bricks where the post box used to be. Then David's Aunty Edie took on the running of the post office and it moved with her to Alton Riding Stables.

Since about 2010 BT has been selling decommissioned red phone boxes to local communities for just a £1 under its Adopt a Kiosk scheme, enabling villages across the land to preserve part of Britain’s Heritage. The scheme has captured the imagination of people up and down the country and more than 1,500 kiosks had been adopted by 2011. Boxes have been fitted with life saving defibrillation machines, turned into art galleries, public libraries, exhibitions and information centres. One village even turned theirs into a one-night-only pub.

Alton's Red Telephone Box (a K6) was bought for £1 by Ashover Parish Council who now own it. Bruce Adams (son of Roger and Pauline) decided to help restore the phone box to its former glory from its dilapidated state. Bruce collected around £110 towards the refurbishment, door to door around Alton.

First Andy Nicklin was employed to dig out around the box where the ground had collapsed and rebuild the retainer wall. This cost £450. Then John Ellis kindly agreed to prepare and paint the outside of the box. The paint and primer cost £100.The balance of the costs incurred, after taking into account the village collection, have been met by Roger and Pauline Adams.

After a well earned rest, and with Bruce having moved out of the village, in 2015 Roger decided to do homework on replacing the glass and their frames. This including seeking advice from the well known telephone expert, Dick Fidler of Littlemoor. The old ones were not suitable for reuse so he sourced a whole new set of toughened glass panes, their frames and the brass pins that hold the frames in place. This cost a further £500 and were delivered to Roger's home in March 2016.Since 2011 the paint work and the general condition of the box had deteriorated to the point where a full refurbishment was required.

Bruce Adams