KX telephone boxes

In 1980, preparing for privatisation, Post Office Telephones, who owned all of the United Kingdom's telephone boxes, except those in Hull, was renamed British Telecom, later to become simply BT. The most common telephone box in the United Kingdom was the K6 red telephone box, introduced in 1935. The newly formed BT inherited a 1979 project to design new kiosks for the 1980s,but costs were escalating and it would come to nothing. There were many local kiosk ideas trialed on a regional basis by regional telephone boards of first Post Office Telecomm's, then BT. Other projects in included the introduction of phonecard-operated telephone kiosks in July 1981 after a successful trial, with the phones in the kiosks being named Cardphones. Another project, this time localised in the BT NorthWest Region over winter 1980/81, was a trial painting of about 80 red telephone boxes (mostly K6 but some K8's) in yellow, as a test of BT's 'new' corporate colour. It was only ever a trial, but the National press misquoted a BT press release and erroneously told the public every red phonebox (77,000 of them) would become yellow. This was harshly received by the public, with the Daily Mail launching a campaign "against the yellow peril" and questions were asked in Parliament. In the House of Lords, the Earl of Gowrie, the Minister of State for Employment, called on BT "to abandon this ridiculous scheme". In the House of Commons, Mark Lennox-Boyd MP asked the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, 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". es were seen by BT as no longer meeting the needs of users. The Daily Mail claimed its campaigning had worked yet BT once again made it clear it had only ever been a trial, largely ignored by national media until 4 examples were painted in London to trial four different shades of yellow. BT explained it had "been an experiment" and that no final decision had been reached. Furthermore, the red phoneboxes were noted for a lack of ventilation and little space. Although British Telecom had begun introducing the yellow vandal proof '7A "Oakham" booth' in 1981 to several locations with limited floor space or extreme vandalism, it was with their imminent privatisation in 1984, that forced BT back to the drawing board. The result, announced publicly in early 1985 was a range of new telephone boxes, called the KX, 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. 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". 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 Croydon kiosks were experimental housings built by Post Office Telecoms London (South) around 1975 to replace the ageing red kiosks. They were designed in Croydon, Surrey and trialled locally in that area. The exact date is not known but there is speculation that they may date from 1972. Regardless, the design of the Croydon boxes proved an important influence on the KX100 and others in the KX range. ==Original models==

The original KX telephone booths were designed by DCA (David Carter Associates) and re-engineered by GKN after an initial batch of pre production models from America proved flimsy. They are of light-weight construction using stainless steel struts affixed to a stainless steel rear panel and roof, into which anodised aluminum components formed frames around glass/acrylic windows. They were also fitted with sound proofing back boards and featured a windswept gap at the base to prevent litter from accumulating, and "better lighting." Kiosks of the KX series were introduced at a rate of approx. 5,000 a year, and by 1999, the combined total number of the KX series and inherited Post Office telephone boxes operated by BT had reached 137,000. There is confusion as to the actual number of each type of kiosk built with BT and GKN records missing. It is known that by 1996, the total number of stainless steel KX kiosks (KX100/KX200/KX300)in service with BT was 80,000, with a further 30,000 hooded/canopied BT phones in locations such as railway stations or shopping centres (including KX500 series, older wall board mounted units and the Oakham pedestal), and 15,000 old GPO era red boxes in heritage locations. From 1996, the KX+ was introduced at a rate of 5,000 a year until 1999, though later numbers were in fact on-site modular-upgrades of KX100. Exact numbers of each type produced remain hard to quantify as the various KX units were sold both to domestic and foreign operators such as KCom in Hull, Guernsey Telecom, and Telecom New Zealand; and used in BT's own international payphone ventures in Europe and the Isle of Man. In 1999 the number of 'housed' public telephones operated by BT is known to have peaked at 137,000, up from the total of 81,000 in 1989. By 2017 the total number of housed payphones had dropped to 40,500, BT further modified a number of these bins in late 1992 to prevent people from stealing disposed cards from them - as the cards were valued by collectors, some being rare and having trading values of hundreds of Pounds. KX200/KX200D . The KX200 is a hooded unit provided as a single (KX200) or double (KX200D) 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 were sometimes positioned in a row. In/on more confined spaces/sites, the KX200D model took up less space than a pair placed back to back. A KX200 consists of a back panel, a flat roof which also supports two glass/acrylic panels which stretch down the booth but stop short of the ground at around knee level. The glazing panels originally displayed a BT logo, evolving over the years with the corporate identity. 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: a) pillar-mount assembly with two windowed sides, with payphone sited on the central pillar; and b) a panel mount assembly, where one of the windowed sides is omitted and steel panel(s) are used, with the payphone mounted on the inside of the acoustic steel panels along with fittings for directory holders. It was essentially a triangular-based variant of the KX100. Initially KX300 were door free, but the transom sign could've removed and a standard KX100 door could be fitted. Doors became more common in the post 1991 livery era. . 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 centres, 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." 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. Alan Powers, 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 [red telephone box]. They're all utterly banal. Though I have recently seen a new phone in Bloomsbury [London] that is very, very elegant. Maybe BT has finally got it right." BT's telephone boxes in the UK soon saw a rival with the introduction of Mercury Communications own set of telephone booths, which were launched on 27 July 1988 with 26 booths at Waterloo station, London. 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 boxes. ==1991 revamp==

BT 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. Upon installation, BT also included a commemorative plaque 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. The telephone box was unveiled by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, and in BT's A1141 list of unique alphabetical Telephone Exchange codes, the code for Dunsop Bridge is DSB. Whilst the BBC noted in 2002 that the box is the village's "monument", local postmaster and shop owner Phil Woodhead said the town did not capitalise on its status, saying "there is only that payphone really... we haven't put up big signs or anything like that. If this was a bigger town with more shops, then maybe we would do something, but because we are so small, there is really no-one to push it." ==KX+==

In 1996, BT, having acknowledged the negative reaction to the original KX models, made an attempt to win the public over and revisited the KX100 and built upon its design to improve its appeal and add some character. These kiosks have been described as perhaps "the last throw of the dice to save the telephone box", with Red Phone Box noting "the idea is good but the practicality isn't, you are unable to print out your internet findings in these boxes as a printer and paper would create mess." Both the KX+ and the KX Minus were designed by DCA and manufactured by GKN. ==Later developments==

Whilst the full 5,000 production of KX+ remain today, a successful scheme which took place around the same time as the introduction of the KX+ was to reinstall the iconic K6 design telephone boxes in places that have parted with them, with many places continuing to be reunited with K6s. Perhaps in another attempt to sustain public usage of payphones, many KX100 payphone kiosks were modified from 2005 onwards to house a cash machine on one side, taking the shape of the KX+. In 2005, BT announced they were scrapping plans to remove 200 telephone boxes in rural Yorkshire owing to their importance to the geographically isolated areas. They also launched a series of internet payphones called the Multi.phone, also known as the Multiphone, in 1999. The touch screen terminals display a range of "hot buttons relevant to the needs of the modern traveller and consumer", with one of the buttons leading to BBC News Online. By January 2001, 600 Multi.phones were installed, BT announced a six-month promotion during which the phones would be totally free for internet use. A BBC critic reviewed the Multi.phone in a negative light, saying it made the reviewer "nostalgic for the old callbox pips. Sometimes, as BT once put it so perfectly, "it's good to TALK"." In 2004, BT considered plans where their telephone boxes could be used to download music, turning them into "virtual jukeboxes", where anyone owning an iPod or portable music player would be able to go into a phonebox and download a song, being able to pay using a credit card or a BT charge card. The concept behind the boxes providing access to music was seen as an opportunity to attract mobile phone users, who long ago deserted phone boxes into BT facilities, , there are fewer than 20,000 public telephone boxes nationwide. That year the Twentieth Century Society applied to preserve three KX100 boxes as listed monuments: the 100,000th to be installed, at Dunsop Bridge in Lancashire, in England; a box which has retained the original BT livery, near Maaruig on the Isle of Harris in Scotland; and an experimental solar- and wind-powered telephone box at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth in Wales. ST6 Whilst BT was reported to have stopped making telephone boxes in January 2001, citing loss of profits due to the increasing popularity in mobile phones, production had resumed by the time of the introduction of the ST6 (Street Talk 6) in June 2007, which seemingly saw the end of the KX series. The ST6, a collaboration between BT and public advertising company JCDecaux, is a unit that incorporates a telephone on one side and a scrolling advertising billboard on the reverse. The idea is that the advertising would pay for the running of the phone. The first ten ST6 kiosks were installed in Richmond and Ealing, London. BT announced in May 2012 that it was going to repair and restore 1,300 KX telephone boxes. LinkUK The latest venture from BT, in 2017, combining advertising with public telephone service was the LinkUK kiosk - an electronic advertising hoarding with a tablet, two USB charging ports, and a phone providing free calling to UK numbers (plus free WiFi). ==See also==