KX telephone boxes

The KX series of telephone boxes in the United Kingdom was introduced by BT (British Telecom) in 1985. Following the privatisation of BT in 1984, the company decided to create a newly designed and improved take on the British telephone box, which at this point consisted of predominantly red telephone boxes which BT had recently acquired, the most common being the iconic K6 box. These red boxes were considered flawed in parts by BT for several reasons, including cost, lack of ventilation, accessibility and maintenance. After a series of trials and an earlier aborted project, BT announced they were to spend £160m on a series of new phoneboxes, new computer chip controlled payphones and the phasing out of all older red telephone boxes. The KX Kiosk range was designed for BT by Warwick based DCA but were engineered by GKN in Telford. The main telephone box in the KX range is the KX100. Upon launch, there were two further production models - the KX200 and the KX300. The boxes were produced at a rate of 5,000-6,000 a year between 1986-1996. In 1987, the smaller 'vandal resistant' KX410 and KX420 pillars joined the range (but neither were built by GKN and never high numbers). In 1990, the indoor KX500 pillar/wall range was designed, having several sub variants. In 1996, the KX100 was adapted into a 'new' model called the KX+. The KX+ kiosks were produced at a rate of 5,000 a year, with the total count of all BT-owned public phones (including the pillar and wall mounted KX500 series) reaching 137,000 by 1999. This number has since decreased to around 15,000 (2024 BT figures) and continues to fall annually.

Whilst the updated functions of the KX housings were praised, the designs were widely criticised and were seen as stylistically inferior to the red telephone boxes. The plan to replace the red boxes was also criticised, and this led to a successful public campaign by the c20th Society to save many of the red kiosks.

Most of the main KX series had their branding livery revamped after BT changed their corporate logo in 1991. Occasionally old branding resurface on elevations hidden for decades when one of a pair of kiosks is removed. Production of the KX100/200/300 range stopped in 1996 when the KX+ was launched, attempting to address the criticisms that the original KX100 had received by lowering the door handle, brightening the interior and enlarging the upper windows. The biggest revision was the addition of a red roof dome - reminiscent of older phone boxes. Later versions of the KX+ incorporated broadband connection and blue domes. BT was reported to have stopped making enclosed telephone boxes altogether in 2001. From 2007 BT Payphones continued to be installed in modified KX100/KX+ that had been converted to ATM cash-dispensers. From 2007 BT started to introduce the semi-open JCDecaux advert pillar called the ST6 (Street Talk 6). Later advertising pillars followed, with side mounted keypad public phones, then digital touchscreens.

In 1980, preparing for privatisation, Post Office Telephones, who owned all of the United Kingdom's telephone boxes, except those in Hull, was renamed British Telecom, later to become simply BT. The most common telephone box in the United Kingdom was the K6 red telephone box, introduced in 1935. The newly formed BT inherited a 1979 project to design new kiosks for the 1980s,but costs were escalating and it would come to nothing. There were many local kiosk ideas trialed on a regional basis by regional telephone boards of first Post Office Telecomm's, then BT. Other projects in included the introduction of phonecard-operated telephone kiosks in July 1981 after a successful trial, with the phones in the kiosks being named Cardphones. Another project, this time localised in the BT NorthWest Region over winter 1980/81, was a trial painting of about 80 red telephone boxes (mostly K6 but some K8's) in yellow, as a test of BT's 'new' corporate colour. It was only ever a trial, but the National press misquoted a BT press release and erroneously told the public every red phonebox (77,000 of them) would become yellow. This was harshly received by the public, with the Daily Mail launching a campaign "against the yellow peril" and questions were asked in Parliament. In the House of Lords, the Earl of Gowrie, the Minister of State for Employment, called on BT "to abandon this ridiculous scheme". In the House of Commons, Mark Lennox-Boyd MP asked the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, if she would treat the decision "with the greatest possible dismay". Thatcher, who herself was responsible for the privatisation, would only say that she could "see my honourable Friend's point".

The Daily Mail claimed its campaigning had worked yet BT once again made it clear it had only ever been a trial, largely ignored by national media until 4 examples were painted in London to trial four different shades of yellow. BT explained it had "been an experiment" and that no final decision had been reached. Nonetheless, whilst they had sympathised with what the public saw as a cultural icon, BT then turned their attention to what customer research had established were embedded flaws in all of Britain's cast iron telephone boxes. They considered them 'outdated and no longer meeting the needs of the public, finding that few people like using them, and noted their expensive cost, difficult maintenance and how they could not be used by handicapped people' . Furthermore, the red phoneboxes were noted for a lack of ventilation and little space. Although British Telecom had begun introducing the yellow vandal proof '7A "Oakham" booth' in 1981 to several locations with limited floor space or extreme vandalism, it was with their imminent privatisation in 1984, that forced BT back to the drawing board. The result, announced publicly in early 1985 was a range of new telephone boxes, called the KX, which improved on the previous telephone boxes and addressed their concerns.

In early 1985, British Telecom announced a £160 million modernisation scheme for the public telephone network inherited from the General Post Office. Described as "a major improvement to the public telephone service", the "new designs that were to be the most perfect telephone kiosks you could imagine." They were both BT's first standardised telephone booths and their first altogether, having only been privatised less than half a year earlier. The new telephone boxes were named the KX series. Whilst it is unknown what the initials stand for, it is believed the "K" stands for kiosk, following the Post Office telephone box naming system.

The introduction of the new kiosks was also to see the eventual replacement of all existing prior telephone boxes. In January 1985, Nick Kane, the Director of Marketing for BT Local Communications Services, announced the replacement plan and stated they were being replaced because they "no longer meet the needs of our customers. Few people like to use them. They are expensive and difficult to clean and maintain and cannot be used by handicapped people".

The first KX type to be installed, a KX100, was unveiled in Leicester Square, London though this was not the first installation location of the type. BT later stated the KX models "were cheaper to maintain, more resistant to vandalism and were designed to blend in with any surroundings. Special attention was paid to environmental considerations, acoustics, weather protection, lighting and ventilation after intensive market research was conducted into customers' needs. The designs assisted customers with disabilities and allowed access to wheelchair users."