Yorkshire veteran converts phone box into bar

Lee Copeland converted a K6 kiosk into a mini bar

A former serviceman has converted a red phone box into a mini bar with music and disco lights.

Lee Copeland, of North Yorkshire, said he bought the kiosk for £1,800 five years ago, realising a long-held dream.

The ex-corporal, 52, who served with the Royal Signals in Catterick, fitted the phone box with bar optics, an old telephone as well as a radio.

Describing red phone boxes as "iconic", the dad-of-one said they were "as British as fish and chips".

The kiosk, believed to be a K6 which dates back to the 1930s, has found a permanent home in Mr Copeland's garden in Ingleby Barwick.

Mr Copeland, a member of the Red Phone Box and Post Box Appreciation Society, told the BBC: "I don't exactly know how old it is but I look at it and think 'that thing has stood out there for almost 100 years and at one point had spitfires flying over it.'

"There is something kind of romantic about it. People who love each other have spoken on the phone or had good news or bad news delivered to them."

Lee Copeland's converted red phone box

Ahead of the red phone box celebrating its 100th birthday, BT announced about 1,000 of its kiosks were currently up for grabs across the UK.

In 2008, the telecommunications company introduced its Adopt a Kiosk programme and more than 7,200 phone boxes have since been taken on by communities for £1 each.

One of them was a disused telephone box in Warley, near Halifax, which was adopted in 2016 and transformed into a museum.

Lee Copeland fitted the kiosk with bar optics and a working telephone

While Mr Copeland was unable to put his finger on the widespread appeal of the red phone boxes, he said they were an important feature of the UK landscape.

The telecommunications engineer, originally from Yarm, added: "It's a bit like when you go to New York you need a photograph with a yellow cab and again, when you visit London, you want a photo with a black cab and standing near Buckingham Palace.

"The red phone boxes are as British as fish and chips, aren't they?"

The history of the red phone box

• Architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott designed the first incarnation of the red phone box for a competition in 1924

• In 1936, Sir Scott refined his design for the famous K6 introduced across the UK to mark George V's Silver Jubilee

• There are an estimated 20,000 remaining working payphones across the UK, around 3,000 of which are in traditional red kiosks

• The number of phone boxes peaked in the 1990s at around 100,000

Source: BT