KIOSKS
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An extract from POST OFFICE SERVICES: Except in the case of large and important Post Offices public business is generally not transacted during the late evening or !he greater part of Sunday and the majority of sub-offices are closed also for an hour daily at midday and for one afternoon each week: during these periods !he telephone service is usually in operation and, of course, letters may be posted, but the telephone call office at the P.O. is not available nor can postage stamps be purchased. It is not surprising, therefore, that demands have arisen for facilities for making telephone calls and obtaining stamps, and that in consequence two interesting: extensions of the public service have now been definitely instituted, namely, the provision, in easily accessible positions, of street kiosks for use as telephone call offices and of stamp-vending machines. Incidentally, these facilities not only meet the original demand but have the further merit that they afford relief at the P.O. counter during the ordinary hours of business. (The principle of installing street kiosks was recognised by the National Telephone Company, but at the time of the transfer in 1912 the number was very small owing no doubt to difficulty experienced in securing the consent of local authorities for suitable sites). The fact that a street kiosk is available at all times for emergency calls to the Police, Ambulance and Fire Stations is very much appreciated, and in several !owns the Councils have considered the service so provided sufficient to meet the needs of their districts, and have dispensed with their own street fire alarms. Hitherto it has been possible to originate local calls only from a street kiosk, but the Department has recently introduced a new type of coin collector, which accepts payments in pennies, sixpences and shillings, and before long the public will be able to originate trunk calls. It has not yet been decided to accept telegrams from call offices in this manner, but that course appears inevitable, and at a not far distant date it should be possible to telephone a telegram and pay for it at an unattended call office. Such a facility should be of great service in popularising the telegraph service. The standard telephone kiosk before WW1 was a wooden structure, but recently a pattern was introduced made of reinforced concrete in flat sections suitable for erection on the site and 15,000 kiosks of this type have been erected throughout the country; these are much more durable and efficient for their purpose than tile wooden pattern, but owing to the limitations of reinforced concrete they do not harmonise in all cases with the surroundings. More recently a number of municipal authorities prepared designs with a view to having a particular type for the streets of their own towns, but as it was considered that a standard kiosk was required which would be architecturally suitable for erection in the main thoroughfares of a large town, it was decided to consult the Royal Fine Art Commission, to whom a number of designs which had been obtained were submitted. The Commission regarded the designs as inadequate, and suggested that further designs be obtained from architects nominated by the President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. This recommendation was adopted, and as a result the design submitted by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, was selected as the most suitable (It is hardly necessary, perhaps, to mention that Sir Giles Gilbert Scott is well known as the architect of the new Liverpool Cathedral and many well-known buildings and War Memorials). The new kiosk is made of cast iron sections convenient for erection on the site by the Department's workmen, and the TELEPHONE signs are of opal glass with blue letters, illuminated at night by a light fixed to the ceiling. In the Post Office Electrical Engineers' Journal of July, 1921,
a description was given of a stamp-vending machine. The service
rendered by these machines has been appreciated by the public,
and the demand for them has increased to such an extent that
machines for the sale of penny and halfpenny stamps have been
installed outside l,000 Post Offices and arrangements are in hand
to provide another 500 during the current year. Very consider
able numbers of stamps are sold from these machines, the largest
number recorded being 13,000 in four days from one pair of
machines. As a further development a kiosk with stamp-vending machines, post letter box and telephone was made up recently and erected in one of the main thoroughfares of the City of Bath (the picture below is thought to be a publicity shot taken in the courtyard outside the GPO North building, London). Fitted with the Department's multi-coin Collecting Box a kiosk of this description would provide facilities for the purchase of stamps and posting of letters; the sending of telegrams; the originating of ordinary trunk and local telephone calls; and the summoning of the Police, Ambulance and Fire Brigade. From these beginnings a Cast Iron kiosk was produced. 50 were made but the project was a failure and no more were produced. This was called the Kiosk No. 4.
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Last revised: January 06, 2024FM | ||||||||
