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Nine rare cream-coloured phone boxes have been given listed status to mark their importance as “the last in the line of classic telephone boxes”.
All K8 kiosks in and around Hull are listed at Grade II by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on the advice of Historic England.
The K8 was designed by architect Bruce Martin in 1965–66 and has been described by Historic England as “the last generation of the classic public telephone box”.
11,000 K8s were installed across the UK between 1968 and 1983, but only about 50 remain in their original condition as most were removed following its privatization by British Telecom in 1984.
They were replaced by the sleek silver KX100 kiosks, which were in turn made obsolete by the spread of mobile phone ownership.
Most of the surviving K8s identified are in and around Hull as they were not the property of British Telecom.
Hull is the only place in England where the local council actively runs a public telephone network, having been licensed to operate from 1902 to 2007.
The network continues to be run by an independent company, Kingston Communications.
As a mark of network independence, the K8s in Hull are painted cream rather than the red used elsewhere in the country.
Sarah Charlesworth, Listing Team Leader for Answers at Historic England, said: “Our old phone boxes are a beloved part of England’s heritage and for many of us they have been the scene of memorable moments in our own lives.
“These listed K8s represent the cream of the crop in the Hull region, being among the best in condition, and which help to enrich their individual historic streetscape place.”
Catherine Croft, director of the Twentieth Century Society, said: “The K8 is the last in the line of truly classic telephone boxes and their plight has long been a cause of concern for the C20 Society, so we are delighted to see another brace of boxes featured in the National Accredited with listing.
Listed are phone boxes; Main Street, Wawen; High Street, North Ferriby; Boulevard, Hull; Princes Avenue at the junction with Park Grove, Hull (two kiosks); Beech Avenue, Hull; Church Gate, Haydon; Main Street, Swanland; and Skillings Lane, Bro.