K8 Telephone Kiosk

Telephone Kiosk at New Beach Holiday Centre, Dymchurch

This is a Grade II listed telephone kiosk designed by Bruce Martin and introduced from 1968. It comprises six cast iron parts and an aluminium door. The door and two sides contain large rectangular sheets of toughened glass set in frames with rounded corners. The fourth side has a solid panel set in a frame. The kiosk has a square plan with a flat roof dome glazed with toughened glass in four sides with rectangular panes and rounded corners. Three of these panes bear the word 'TELEPHONE' in black lettering on a white background, while the fourth, positioned above the solid panel, contains clear glass. The kiosk is painted red and stands in good condition with a working payphone inside.

The kiosk was designed following a competition held by the General Post Office (GPO) in 1965. Bruce Martin studied engineering at the University of Hong Kong before qualifying in architecture at the Architectural Association. He worked for the architectural department at Hertfordshire County Council and was part of the group responsible for the 'Hertfordshire Experiment', a progressive primary school building plan using pioneering construction techniques, pre-fabricated buildings and child-centred design.

The GPO's design brief required the K8 to be easy to re-assemble on site and easy to maintain and repair. Unlike its predecessor the K6, the K8 was given interchangeable components. The design had to last at least 50 years and be recognised as the UK's next generation of red telephone boxes. Bruce Martin analysed Scott's K6 meticulously, simplifying and reducing its numerous components to ones that could be used flexibly to suit different sites. The K8 was eventually given only seven principal components. This kiosk exemplifies the variation where the cast lip framing the roof canopy was continuous around the canopy, framing only the sides and top of the signs, rather than having a separate lip framing the 'TELEPHONE' signs.

The K8 first appeared on streets in 1968. By 1983, 11,000 had been manufactured for the UK by the Lion Foundry. During the 1980s, British Telecom replaced large numbers of K8s with newer kiosks, and some were sold on. Several K8 kiosks have been identified on privately owned holiday parks such as New Beach, possibly acquired from British Telecom at this time. Although this kiosk does not stand in its original location, it retains its original colour and function. It stands in front of the park's main building at the centre of the site and is visible from the main road. To the south-west are a number of small, flat-roofed, timber-clad holiday chalets of mid-century date, which provide a fitting backdrop to the classic 1960s design of the K8.