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A sad reminder of an age before smartphones and the World Wide Web.
This greets our tourists on their way up the Gravel Path.
Thanks for all your comments on this sad image.
Malcolm Baldwin, who is Chair of The Circus Area Residents Association (CARA), writes:
“Thanks for highlighting the condition of the telephone kiosk in Queens Parade Place (at the end of the Gravel Walk).
It’s appears to be somewhat of a challenge, but as it’s situated within our catchment area CARA has recently applied for a third time to “BT Adopt a Kiosk” scheme to attempt to adopt this particular kiosk and tastefully restore it and perhaps in so doing use it to explain a little of the history of the Gravel Walk to locals and visitors alike.
Out of interest, there is another kiosk in a similar condition near the forecourt of the Assembly Rooms, which I understand that the National Trust have been successful in adopting and is likely to be restored as part of the current redevelopment work of the Assembly Rooms and its immediate surrounding ‘landscape’.
Many of these have been ‘adopted’ by Parish Councils or other local groups. Why not here ?
Thanks for drawing attention to this real mess of a phone box. As a Mayor’s Guide I feel ashamed having to lead tourists past this every time I guide a party up the Gravel Walk to the Royal Crescent. Who is responsible for this phone box – and couldn’t it be turned into something else ? Perhaps a flower box or something?
A pristine red phone box has now appeared outside the Ivy Restaurant.
How timely!
Time to galvanize a group of locals to explain it’s history, clean it and leave it there…?????
Unfortunately, just about sums up this country today. What has become of us?
Hi there – this phone box is listed and there are a number of phone boxes that are listed in Bath but at the same time they either have no telephony equipment in them or will shortly have them removed – because no-one is using the phones anymore!
I understand that a planning application by BT to remove equipment was recently approved for the removal of equipment in the phone box at Sion Hill/Cavendish Road and that there were also other similar applications in regard to listed phone boxes outside St Stephen’s Church, Lansdown on Bathwick Hill.
See Planning Application Reference: 25/00739/CONSLT in regard to Sion Hill/Cavendish Road box and some helpful documents that relate to all 3 of these boxes. Only 4 calls were made from the Sion Hill box in the period of 12 months. It is understandable that some of this equipment needs to be removed!
The concern of the local Residents Association [Sion Hill and Summerhill Road Residents Association https://sionsummerhill.org.uk] is the future maintenance of their local box now that it no longer has a purpose and BT no longer have any incentive to maintain it. They are writing to the Planning team at B&NES to see what safeguards are in place so that the various listed boxes in the city can be properly maintained as part of the overall public realm.
There is an interesting website https://www.thek6project.co.uk/2024/07/04/bath-somerset-ba1-2nn/ which records the box that you reference and a number of other phone boxes in Bath. Amongst other things it identifies potential uses for the boxes going forwards. Could the tourist office use some of them as a mini tourist office – with leaflets available to the 1000s of tourists that visit the city each year?
It is sad to see so many of the old telephone boxes around bath rotting away and not being maintained. The iconic box obviously means something for tourists as the Ivy here in Bath (and I noticed in Cheltenham this week) are using pretend red boxes outside the restaurants.
If they are going to be unloved on the street perhaps they could be moved to the parks and utilised for information / books / flowers etc