In the United Kingdom, the famous red telephone booths, quite a symbol across the Channel, are sold for a symbolic pound by BT, formerly British Telecom, which owned them until 2008. Except that some buyers take the opportunity to resell them to more offerors.
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There used to be 60,000 telephone booths across the UK. There are around 20,000 left today. They are known the world over, as tourists like to have their picture taken in front of these “so British” cabins. They were designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of King George V. Red is the dominant color in the British Army. That’s it for the little story.
But with the advent of the mobile phone, telephone boxes no longer have the same use across the Channel. With the exception of 3,000 cabins which are listed as historical monuments, their owner, the operator British Telecom, now BT, has decided to part with them because they are too expensive to maintain. Anyone (or almost) can therefore afford a cabin for a price of between 2,000 and 3,500 euros. The operator has also developed a program “Adopt a kiosk” which allows associations to acquire them for a symbolic pound on condition that they serve the community.
Some 6,000 cabins have thus been transformed into micro-libraries, but also to house defibrillators or cash dispensers. But some saw it as a good source! One of the buyers created a charitable association through which he bought 100 cabins, about 40 of which were sometimes sold at astronomical prices. Thus, one of the cabins was sold for 50,000 euros to a buyer in Hong Kong according to the magazine. The Economist. Another located outside the British Museum, has been awarded 38,000 euros to an artist who plans to transform it into a gallery. You should know that the buyers also become the owner of the square meter of land on which the cabins are installed.
BT, the British telecoms company, intends to take legal action against the seller on the grounds that it does not respect its contractual obligations that the booths must not be used for profit but only for charitable purposes. If BT can prove it, the operator could demand the return of the cabins that the owner still owns. On the other hand, those which have been sold to individuals may not be taken back.