Picture your quintessential London landscape image: a red telephone box is kicking about somewhere, is it not? While their practical use may have declined in recent years, you can’t really imagine the city without them.
Now, picture some of the red central London booths again, but this time filled with sweets, treats and snacks. Weird, right? But this developer reckons that a couple of West End telephone boxes could be given a new lease of life by repurposing them into vending machines.
Before you panic and fear the demise of the iconic red crew; breathe. That is not what’s being proposed here. The idea behind this is to turn just two run down boxes into machines dispensing snacks to spread joy, and also give money to charity in the process.
Applications for this interesting redevelopment has been submitted by Nuriyeh Popalzi as part of the Young Entrepreneur Support Scheme, with plans currently in the consulting stage. If successful, this would mean the booths on Coventry Street, which have sadly been subject to disrepair, get a fresh red lick of paint and have their doors removed to create the machines.
In her application, Nuriyeh Popalzi said: “Both telephone kiosks are decommissioned and kept in poor condition of maintenance, attracting anti-social behaviour, and creating an unpleasant site in one of the most historic and touristic parts of London.
“These red telephone boxes are considered a key part of London not only for the Londoners but also for the tourists, from all over the world coming to London, for decades – these red telephone boxes have been a symbol of London and in fact a symbol for the whole of Great Britain.”
Popalazi hopes the conversion of these boxes will have a positive effect on the community, much like other telephone boxes that have been converted into libraries. All profits made by the vending machines will go to charity, meaning happiness can be spread in multiple ways, should this go ahead.
Who knows? Before long your next afternoon pick-me-up could come from one of London’s iconic red boxes. Lets hope there’s a speed dial option, though – we know Londoners are always in a rush, after all.