Plans have been put forward to relocate a BT phone box on Ryde Esplanade to a site over the road where one stood as recently as 2018.
A phone box previously stood for a number of years outside The King Lud and Long John Eater, but was removed back in 2018.
However, plans submitted to the Isle of Wight Council propose moving a box located at Ryde Bus Station onto the pavement across the road – exactly where the previous phone box stood.
The major Esplanade improvement scheme will see the bus terminal re-modelled to provide a safer environment for bus users/pedestrians with more public amenity space, increased planting and less hard surfacing for vehicles.
A brand-new road layout will allow buses that already route via George Street to emerge from the bus terminal and head straight up George Street, as opposed to the current arrangement where they have to use the roundabout at the end of the Esplanade.
As a result of this, the phone box needs to be moved.
Don’t fix it if it aint broke.
Thank God for that! Where were they expecting Superman to get changed?
Don’t put it back outside the Lug as it makes it dangerous when you’re at the bottom of Union Street and your sight line is blocked
i remember that phone box outside the King Lud…when driving to the junction at the bottom of Union Street, it used to block a clear view of cars approaching along the Esplanade from the right. It’s been better without it, so please reconsider your plan.
“Less hard surfacing for vehicles” – Give that there is only one lane in either direction I assume that’s an obscure way of saying “fewer on-street parking places”
Don’t put it anywhere near the lud for various reasons mentioned and the problem of using it with a load of drunks outside , could be very intimidating
Really…………?
life / one / get / a
Surely though, it will be handy as the toilets are closed for local drunks to relieve themselves before the vandals amuse themselves?
As someone who doesn’t have a mobile phone, I do sometimes have to use a public phone box, and they are a lifeline. So although I’ve never used the one in Ryde, I am absolutely delighted it might be coming back. Also outside The King Lud is precisely where you do need it – for the customers.
Wrong! It needs to be where the ‘transport interchange’ is so that if, or when, you have problems there, those without a mobile can quickly and easily summon help without having to cross the road, however that is accomplished when, and if, the fiasco is completed. And going on the current ‘progress’, probably never.