Preston's iconic row of red phone boxes set for a refurb in 2023

The authority told the Lancashire Post that it is planning a complete refurbishment of the nine units – the longest line of the scarlet-coloured calling facilities anywhere in the UK.

It follows criticism of the deteriorating condition and appearance of the local landmark – on Market Street in the city centre – with one formerly Preston-based photographer suggesting on social media that the decline of the phone boxes was giving him the pip(s).

Paul Melling posted what he described as a “throwback” picture of the phone boxes, with their interiors lit up after dark – evocative of an era when the facilities were the only way of making a call while on the move.

He said that it was “unforgivable” that they had been allowed to get into their current state – with glass panels smashed and bereft both of their original and any future purpose. Another poster said that the boxes looked like a “tornado” had been through them and had the appearance of having been abandoned.

Speaking to the Post, Paul – who now lives in West Yorkshire – said that they were an “iconic landmark” which he hoped to see restored “to their former glory – before it’s too late”.

It emerged earlier this year that Preston City Council had purchased the phone boxes and the authority’s budget documents revealed plans to put them “to creative use” as one of six pop-up projects being delivered in the Harris Quarter.

The initiatives were to be funded from the £1m of advance cash awarded as part of the city’s £20.9 allocation from the government’s Towns Fund. Some of those schemes – like the Wallace and Gromit bench outside the covered market and the mobile event tent – are long since complete, but the phone boxes are still awaiting their revamp.

A city council spokesperson said that the authority was “highly conscious of the fact that Preston has the longest line of historic red telephone boxes – designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott – in the UK”.

“They are a fabulous landmark that we are very proud to celebrate. We are currently seeking to secure sufficient resources to enable a full restoration of the phone boxes and hope to undertake the necessary works in 2023.”

Some of the boxes still bear signs of previous attempts – before the council acquired them – to rent them out as “retail opportunities”, including for suggested ventures like food stalls.

It is 96 years since the first red phone boxes were installed in London.