Today I am thinking about the revolution in communication which has put a mobile phone into almost everyone’s hand and made the humble telephone box almost a thing of the past.
True they have not yet passed into oblivion, if for no another reason than not everyone has their own personal phone.
But I remember the 1980s when competition between BT and Mercury led to a duplication of telephone boxes where the rival companies plonked the boxes down all over the city often right next to each other.
Added to which BT went on an aggressive programme of installing them in multiple units, sometimes within a short walk.
So, on Beech Road, there were two outside the old post office, another two on the corner of Wilton and a bank of them at the bus terminus.
There are fewer of them, they do not seem to be mended as quickly and many have been given over to other uses, from libraries to shops and museums.
Of course, I know that there were more dubious uses for the boxes, and even before their decline, they were the repository of all sorts of cards from those advertising taxis to those inviting the reader to sign up for other services.
Today many stand forlorn and have become victim to heaps of posters which I suppose makes them still in the business of communication, even if the posters are often quite tatty.
Leaving me just to think back to the time when you could dial a song, reverse the charges or just push button B to get your money back.
And if you were in the know, and had that long series of numbers which were allegedly used by GPO engineers to phone the Exchanges you could make a call for free.
Sadly my innate sense of honesty always stopped me ..... that and a serious mistrust that a] it wouldn't work and b] I might somehow get caught.
Location; Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton
Pictures; 101 ways to use a Chorlton telephone box, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson
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