The incredible graveyard for iconic red phone boxes hidden just outside London

The red phone box, once an iconic sight on London’s street corners, has been a silent victim to the boom in mobile phones.

After a long and slow decline for decades, the red phone boxes are today an endangered species.

But where do these phone boxes go after they’ve fulfilled their lifespan?

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Just outside of London, in Merstham, Surrey, there is a ‘telephone box graveyard’, reported SurreyLive.

The site contains some 70 crumbling phone boxes that have been plucked off London’s streets and brought in for restoration.

This is carried out by a company called Unicorn Restorations, whose staff spend about 30 hours on each box.

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Staff at Unicorn Restorations also take requests to redesign and personalise the interiors of the phone boxes.

While there were once around 73,000 red phone boxes dotted around the country at their peak, their numbers have since dwindled to around 21,000, but Unicorn Restorations is playing its part in preserving them.

Their team of experts strip the boxes and repaint them in the same shade of red stipulated by the General Post Office.

They also replace the glass panels of each box to make them look as good as new.

The company has in the past restored phone boxes that are now located in some of London’s most popular landmarks, including Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, The Tower of London and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

They’ve likewise done work for television and film productions including Harry Potter, Paddington and the John Lewis Christmas adverts.

Among their prestigious customers, one can also find BT, The Corporation of London, and English Heritage.

Although the red phone boxes are unlikely to make a complete comeback any time soon, this work is least keeping these symbols of British culture alive for now.

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