London – City of London – Police Call Box

This police call box, which is no longer in use, is located where Aldersgate Street joins St Martin’s Le Grand. It was installed here in 1935 and the listed building record notes that it’s a relatively rare survival. It’s a chunky piece of iron and although bits have dropped off, the instructions for use have apparently remained. They were once a handy way of alerting the police to an incident and there was no charge made for using them. They were taken out of usage in the 1960s and most were destroyed, but a handful still remain in the city.

The police box from the side, which has recently been painted a much lighter shade of blue that it had previously. This is deliberate as paint analysis was done on these boxes and it was discovered that this was closer to the original colour scheme.