May 25, 2026 21:00:00

The 'K6 project' travels across Britain documenting old 'red telephone boxes.'

You often see '

red telephone boxes ' in movies set in Britain or in European-style fantasy works. Red telephone boxes are one of Britain's iconic sights, but their numbers are decreasing with the spread of mobile phones. The ' K6 project ' travels all over Britain documenting red telephone boxes, showing where and what types of red telephone boxes are installed.

The K6 Project -
https://www.thek6project.co.uk/

The first telephone booth introduced by the British Post Office was manufactured in 1921 and named 'K1 ( Kiosk No. 1)'. The K1 had a white body with a red door, but after much dissatisfaction with its appearance, a design competition was held, and a design by architect Giles Gilbert Scott with a bright red body and a lattice window was adopted. After further changes to the design and materials, the 'K2,' the 'red telephone booth,' was born. Subsequently, the design and materials were repeatedly changed, and the 'K6,' designed in 1935, became the most widespread in Britain.

The K6 project is compiling a dataset of these old British red telephone booths. As mobile phones have become more widespread, public telephones are being removed in large numbers. The K6 project is gathering information throughout the UK, including where different types of telephone booths are currently located and which ones have been removed, by visiting locations in person and receiving information via social media.

The K6 project adds information about telephone booths across the UK, along with photos, on a daily basis.

Clicking on the photo will show you more detailed data. For example, the telephone booth below is located in Wester Skelld, a village in

the Shetland Islands , the northernmost point of Scotland. The type of door on the telephone booth and the type of 'crown decoration' are recorded.

'Crown decoration' is one of the distinctive features of K6, and it is placed in the center on both sides of the roof dome. According to the K6 project, the type of crown can be used to estimate when the roof was cast. For example, the following is a '

Tudor crown ,' which was widely used after 1935.

The following also features the St. Edward's Crown , a ceremonial object of the British royal family, and Queen Elizabeth II decided to change the symbol in 1953.

However, due to protests in Scotland against using the English coat of arms, the Scottish Crown design has been used since 1955. The following is an example of the 'Scottish Crown.'

Additionally, the '

Where are all the kiosks? ' page allows you to see the locations where telephone booths have been confirmed, categorized by region, on a map. Below is a map showing the locations of telephone booths in London's Zone A (Northeast). The pins indicate locations where telephone booth information has been reported, and the red telephone booth icons indicate locations where the K6 project has actually visited and taken photographs.

You can also see a photo of the red telephone booth on the K6 project's Instagram account.