The National Telephone Kiosk Collection

Arguably the UK's most complete telecommunications museum — a full history of the public telephone service, told through every type of kiosk used from 1912 to the present day — from the very first K1 to the KX100 kiosks still being installed today — kept connected by a real, working telephone network.

Rather than static exhibits behind glass, the collection is serviced by four working telephone exchanges, so the phones on display are still, genuinely, live. It's one thing to see a kiosk; it's another to pick up the handset and hear a dial tone through equipment that's decades old.

The collection spans every kiosk design the GPO and BT ever issued, alongside the emergency call boxes that borrowed the same form — including the police box made famous by Doctor Who, once a common sight on British streets before the 999 service existed.

Overview of the kiosk collection courtyard, with red kiosks, a blue police box and bunting

Part of the collection at Avoncroft — kiosks, a police box, and a pillar box, all in one courtyard.

The kiosk family: K1 to K6

Six designs, spanning 1921 to 1936, each solving the last one's problems — too plain, too expensive, too big, too strange.

A K1 telephone kiosk, painted grey with a red door — **K1, 1921.** The first standard kiosk, in pre-cast concrete. It had no fixed colour scheme — this one's grey, painted to suit wherever it stood.

A K2 telephone kiosk, the first red cast-iron box — **K2, 1926.** Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's cast-iron design, and the first red box — but large and costly, so mostly confined to London.

A K3 telephone kiosk, cream-coloured concrete — **K3, 1929.** A cheaper concrete version of the K2, in cream rather than red. It became the standard kiosk outside London.

A K4 telephone kiosk, a large red box combining a phone and a post box — **K4, 1927.** Nicknamed the "Vermilion Giant" — a phone, stamp machine and post box combined. Only 50 were ever built.

A K5 telephone kiosk, a small lightweight prefabricated box — **K5, 1934.** A lightweight, prefabricated kiosk meant for exhibitions and fairs — easy to put up and take down again.

A classic red K6 telephone kiosk — **K6, 1935.** The "Jubilee Kiosk," marking George V's Silver Jubilee — smaller and cheaper than the K2, and by far the most numerous ever built.

In the collection

Button A, Button B, and free emergency calls

Before coins simply dropped in on connection, early kiosks used a two-button system: Button A connected your call once someone answered, Button B refunded your money if they didn't. A separate button, needing no coins at all, connected straight to the fire, police or ambulance service — years before 999 existed.

Interior of a kiosk showing the Button A and Button B coin mechanism and dialling instructions

An emergency calls button, press for fire, police or ambulance, no coins needed

The police box

Before 999, boxes like these — the same style made famous by Doctor Who's Tardis — gave the public direct, quick access to the police.

Police boxes on display at Avoncroft, styled like the Doctor Who Tardis

A Post Office Telephones van

A working GPO service vehicle, liveried for the Telephone Manager's office in Chester, complete with royal crown decal — the vans that kept the whole network running, box by box.

Vintage green Post Office Telephones van parked beside red kiosks

Close-up of the Post Office Telephones livery reading Telephone Manager, Chester

A working exchange network

Four real telephone exchanges keep the whole collection genuinely connected, not just on display — down to the original Strowger switching mechanisms, still working.

Row of exchange equipment cabinets servicing the kiosk collection

Close-up of a Strowger switch selector mechanism

The original Stableford exchange

Not a recreation — this modest wooden building is the genuine original Stableford telephone exchange, moved to Avoncroft and kept as part of the working network.