KX telephone boxes
These red boxes were considered flawed in parts by BT for several reasons, including cost, lack of ventilation, accessibility and maintenance.
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.
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.
[4] 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".
[5] 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.
[3] 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.
In early 1985, British Telecom announced a £160 million modernisation scheme for the public telephone network inherited from the General Post Office.
Special attention was paid to environmental considerations, acoustics, weather protection, lighting and ventilation after intensive market research was conducted into customers' needs.
[14] The original KX telephone booths were designed by GKN and DCA (David Carter Associates)[15] and are of light-weight construction and use an aluminum frame clad in stainless steel panels with anodised aluminium edging.
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.
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.
"[8] 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.
In 2001, The Guardian 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.
"[20] 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].
"[20] It was reported in 2008 that a local from Ffair Rhos, Cadwgan, 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.
Examples of the response included "something from outer space",[23] "pieces of fairground machinery"[24] and "demented bird tables - complete with perches.
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.
The typeface used to identify the type of box atop the entrance (i.e. "Telephone" or "Phonecard") was changed, now featuring an italicized serif font, often beneath a red line.
The revamp was followed by the installation of the BT's 100,000th telephone box, a KX100 at Dunsop Bridge, Lancashire, on 29 June 1992, after the village was recently named the closest to the centre of the British Isles.
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.
"[31] 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.
In a nod to earlier Post Office kiosks and following the negative feedback on the KX100's design, it features a domed, plastic roof (modelled on those of the K2 and K6).
The enhanced model was now taller and more visible than the boxes of BT's competitors, and it also offered valuable extra space for future developments, such as public wi-fi hotspot equipment.
These booths feature distinctive blue colour to distinguish them from kiosks with standard telephone equipment (see photo),[10] and also carry the BT Openzone logo.
Another development that became possible after the deregulation of the telephone industry of 1996 was that many companies followed in Mercury Communications' footsteps by erecting their own kiosks, including Spectrum Interactive and Cable & Wireless.
[36] 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.
By January 2001, 600 Multi.phones were installed,[26] but to revive the fortunes of their extensive network after usage fell 37% in two years,[39][40] BT announced a six-month promotion during which the phones would be totally free for internet use.
[44] 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,[45][46] 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.
