No more phone boxes in Sheep Street, Bicester as BT has other plans

The boxes in Sheep Street, which are owned by BT, were hauled onto a removal truck following a consultation with Cherwell District Council and an agreement with Ofcom.

Thirteen applications have been made to remove payphones in Bicester and it comes after the huge decline in the amount of people who use them nationwide.

A BT spokesperson said: “Most people now have a mobile phone and calls made from our public telephones have fallen by around 90 per cent in the past decade.

“We consider a number of factors before consulting on the removal of payphones, including whether others are available nearby and usage.”

As part of BT’s consultation, it is offering communities the chance to adopt traditional red heritage phone boxes for £1 through their ‘Adopt a Kiosk’ scheme where they can be transformed into something ‘inspirational’ for the local area.

Adopted boxes can be used to house defibrillators which BT says has been a popular conversion across the country.

Other exciting new ventures include conversions to mini-libraries, miniature art museums, cake shops and information centres.

Boxes can also be adopted by registered charities or by individuals who have a payphone on their own land.

The two bright red heritage phone boxes that sit side-by-side in Market Square will not be removed but could instead potentially be 'adopted' as part of the scheme.

Cherwell District Council said its role would be to act as a conduit between BT and any local organisations who may want to take part.

People on Facebook have mixed views about whether the phone boxes should have stayed in the town.

Mark Chivers says he's glad that they're gone because they've become an 'eyesore' while Ginny Tattersall says they are still worth keeping as she's had to use them in the past after forgetting her mobile phone while in the town centre.

Colin Davies said: “I like that old boxes are being re-purposed into libraries, or defibrillator stations or anything useful.”