A once neglected Swanage telephone box in Dorset, has been saved and given a new lease of life as a community book exchange.
In a short ceremony involving cake and refreshments, the red phone box on the corner of Ulwell Road and Whitecliff Road in North Swanage, was officially opened on Saturday 3rd May 2025 by a number of local children, ably assisted by Swanage town crier Andrew Fleming.
Swanage town crier Andrew Fleming rings in the changes at the official opening of the new book exchange in the Ulwell Road phone box
Saved and repurposed
As the use of traditional phone boxes has declined, many have been removed including the iconic phone box at Shell Bay in Studland and the phone box outside The Mowlem in Swanage.
However some have been saved by the local communities and been given a new purpose including housing lifesaving defibrillators or becoming information points.
Now the Ulwell phone box can be added to the saved and repurposed list.
Sadly, this much photographed phone box at Shell Bay in Studland disappeared at the start of the Covid pandemic
The Mowlem phone box was removed in September 2021
Bought for £1
It all started around early 2020 when BT put up signs in a number of local boxes warning they would be removed.
Fortunately the Swanage and Purbeck Development Trust stepped in and bought it for a £1 but then the Covid pandemic meant that little more happened.
A new chapter for this phone box!
Local resident Jo Cole (left) with Kim Gallagher (centre) and the Swanage town crier (right)
There’s a selection of children’s books too
Book club
Separately, as the pandemic eased, a book club was set up in Ulwell Road by newly arrived resident Carol Platteuw. She said:
“I had just moved to Swanage and didn’t know anyone but I thought it would be a good idea to start a book club as a way to meet the neighbours. The idea took off and the Ulwell Road book club was formed.
“I’d heard about book exchanges and thought that the telephone box just up the road from me would be ideal for the job!”
At the opening, the town crier Andrew Fleming revealed that he was an author and displayed the book that he wrote at the age of five!
Working together left to right: local resident Jo Cole, Swanage and Purbeck Trust trustee Kim Gallagher, Swanage and Purbeck Trust CEO Ali Tuckey, painter Geoff Brandon, and Ulwell Road book club founder Carol Platteuw
Create book exchange
So, fellow book club member Jo Cole stepped in and started to make enquiries about whether they could buy the telephone box. Jo said:
“When I contacted BT, I discovered that the telephone box had already been bought! But fortunately by the Swanage and Purbeck Development Trust.
“I already knew Kim Gallagher, who is one of the trustees, so I contacted her and found out the trust was only too delighted that the neighbours wanted to adopt the box.
“So we started work on turning it into a book exchange – all the neighbours have contributed in one way or the other.”
Artist Sarah Wootton turned her hand to signwriting
The community turned out for the official opening
Geoff Brandon was responsible for sprucing up the box for its official opening
Community effort
Local artist Sarah Wootton volunteered to do the signwriting and some artistic finishing touches, while Marc Platteuw custom made the bookshelves to fit in the box.
However it was Geoff Brandon who cut back the brambles and gave the phone box a fresh lick of paint. He said:
“A few years ago, myself and neighbour Mark Rowley decided to tidy up the area and restore the box, painting it red. It made such a difference.
“Sadly Mark died in 2024 but he was involved at the start of it all, and this year I only had to give it a new top coat of paint.”
The two phone boxes in the High Street by Swanage Library could do with a new coat of paint
Would you like to adopt a box?!
“Important to preserve our local heritage!”
The book exchange system is very simple, with the idea that anyone who would like to take away a book, should bring another interesting one in a good condition, to replace it. There are also books for children.
Kim Gallagher from the Swanage and Purbeck Development Trust said:
“We bought the telephone box for £1 to save it. The trust doesn’t have much of a presence over this side of the town and we thought we could post information in it. However this was pre Covid and not much happened.
“When the book ladies wanted to take it on, it was wonderful. It’s a real pop of red on this corner, along with the postbox – it’s so important to preserve our local heritage!”
