Alistair Hardaker | Image: The listed phone booth © Historic England Archive
First booth of its kind to be listed features a bespoke design and 1992 first call by Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
A BT telephone booth in Lancashire has been given Grade II by DCMS, on the advice of Historic England.
The phone booth has been awarded the protection as the 100,000th of its kind to be installed in Great Britain. It follows a 2024 campaign by The Twentieth Century Society.
The KX100 model telephone kiosk is described as the last generation of public telephone booths. The model is located at Dunsop Bridge in the Ribble Valley, an area defined by the Ordnance Survey as the ‘centre of Great Britain’.
The booth was officially opened in June 1992 by explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who made its first call. Children from nearby Thornleyholme RC Primary School, who had helped to erect it, also attended.
The phone booth is described as the last generation of ‘public telephone box’ and received a bespoke site-specific design by Wolff Olins featuring key places in Britain radiating from the BT logo and Dunsop Bridge to reflect its landmark status.
While it is the first KX100 telephone booth to be listed, in 2023 DCMS gave the same protection to Hull’s white, 1960’s telephone booths.
Jayne Rimmer, North Region listing team leader at Historic England, said the booth was significant because it “makes an important contribution to our understanding of the historic development of the telecommunications industry in England before the introduction, and subsequent widespread use, of mobile phones.”
Councillor Simon Hore, leader of Ribble Valley Borough Council, added: “Local residents, as well as the ducks that are regular ‘visitors’ to the village green where the kiosk is located, will be very proud to hear it’s been granted this elevated status as a landmark with a difference. The phone box has a special place in local people’s hearts.”
