Friday, March 11, 2011

New Library opens in a Phone Box

Who doesn't love the classic British Red Phone Box? I used to have one in a Victorian I had in Berkeley. We used it for...well..a phone box! Sadly, these phone booths are disappearing in the U.K, but there are so many ways they can be repurposed.

A former phone box has a new lease of life as a has been transformed into what must be one of the UK's smallest libraries. The villagers of Point near Truro were so keen to keep using their red phone box that they have turned it into a "book stop". Shades of Doc Martin's Porwenn which is near Truro?

The new venture has proven so popular there are plans to expand it. One Point resident, Margaret Wilson, said: "It's wonderful. We only get our mobile library every fortnight and I am an avid reader.
"Although I have book cases all over my house, I still find at the end of two weeks I have run out of books to read."

While many traditional phone boxes have disappeared since their peak in 1980 when there were 73,000, Point's kiosk looks set to have a busy future. Villagers will soon be able to swap plants in the old red phone box as well.

See the Video, HERE.

This isn't the first time a Red Phone Booth has been repurposed for books. In December 2009,  I mentioned the Westbury Book Exchange. That was not sponsored by the UK Library System: however. It was a community Exchange. However, the Red Phone Booth is fabulous!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Delightful! And a thumbs up for ingenuity. Thanks so much for this posting, we have a holiday home in next county, Devon, and will make this a port of call when visiting Truro. (Jenna)