Payphone The End Of An Era
The end of an era? Or is it? Walking down Frodsham Street last weekend and I just happened to snap this photo. A phone box, or a payphone, being loaded onto the back of a low loader to be hauled away. Just to clarify if you are not sure where it is, it is (or was) right opposite the entrance to Tesco. So, is it the end of an era, or was it being taken away for a bit of a spruce up? A new door and windows perhaps and a good few gallons of bleach maybe? Somehow I don’t think so. I think the phone box was being carted off to meet its great big talking box in the sky.
I seem to recall that there were calls (no pun intended) last summer and about the end of the year, to have the phone box by Primark removed in Foregate Street. Perhaps, as looks likely, it is the end of the one in Frodsham Street. So indeed, it looks like the end of an era.
Payphone The End Of An Era
Payphone End Of An Era
I wouldn’t be surprised if youngsters of a certain generation didn’t have a clue what the odd looking glass panel box was. And even if they did know, was it a working phone box? With so many people of all generations having mobile phones these days, phone boxes may well have died a death a while ago. But completely died a death? Is there not still a need for them? Yes, most people have a mobile, but not all. And there are some that have a mobile but don’t know how best to use them properly. I know of two people well known to me who haven’t got a clue.
For me, using payphones on a regular basis seems a long ago on the one hand and yet, so recent on the other in some respects. If that makes sense. I suppose that the latter part of that is down to time always seems to go faster as we get older.
Payphones Were So Popular
Back in the day, as seems to be a common phrase, payphones were so vital. At times, there used to be long queues forming to use them. I am aware that before I started to use them regularly, the coins required were the threepence (3d); sixpence (6d, AKA a tanner) and a one shilling (1s). I know, I know, many readers will be scratching their heads saying, “what’s he on about? They’re not coins.”
Yes they were in some seemingly far flung times gone by. When I started to use payphones, we had moved on to decimalised coins and the required currency for me was the 2p coin and the 10p coin.
When needing the use of a payphone, you really wanted to get to one without there being a queue. If there was one and you were next in line, a quick glance inside told you if you were in for a long wait. Bad enough if the caller in front of you had stacked a load of 2p coins on the shelf, but if it was a stack of 10p coins!!! Wow, they were likely to be there for yonks!!
How a Payphone Worked
Once you were inside the payphone and acclimatized yourself to what was so often, an overpowering odour (I’ll let you use your own imagination), you would pick up the receiver and listen for the familiar sound of the phone actually working. With coins at the ready, you would then dial your required number. In my early days of using the payphone, money could not be put into the coin slot until the call was answered. A series of pips indicated when the time paid for was running out and the caller had to insert more coins to continue the call, or end the call. How many times did payphone users yell down the phone, “I’ve got to go, the pips have gone and I’ve no more coins!!”
And how many times were the coin slots jammed!!
As time went on and the payphone evolved, the caller was required to put the coins in before connection. If no one answered then the coins would drop out once the receiver was replaced. This new payphone requirement reminds me of a funny story.
I Can’t Get Through
Back in the early 90’s a company I worked for enjoyed the end of a successful bit of business in this particular week. So, as a celebration and a reward, the powers that be said we could all finish early and we were being taken to the pub for a celebratory drink. The pub in question was The Saddle. Although back then it may have been called Chester Bells.
One of the women in our office was a lovely, straight as a dye, quite timid and nervous lady. For the purpose of this post, I’ll call her Ethel although not her real name. Ethel used to live with a family member who she was very close to. If ever she was going to be working late, she asked to use the office phone to call her family member to say that she would be late. Let’s call the family member George, although again, not their real name.
To let George know that she was not in work just in case he called the office and found she wasn’t there, Ethel asked me where the payphone was. I indicated that it was over the other side of the room by the jukebox and by where some young lads were playing pool.
Don’t Panic Ethel
She went over to make the call. I stayed at the bar talking to a work colleague. Ethel being quite a nervy type, used to quite easily get flustered on occasions. This was one of them. I could tell she was getting agitated while trying to connect her call. I called over to see if she needed help but she couldn’t hear me over the ever increasing noise of the jukebox and the raucous laughter of the pool players. It was quite noisy for a Friday mid-afternoon.
So I went over to Ethel to see if I could help. She was now in a right tizz and when in a tizz her voice quivered. “Calm down Ethel, we’ll sort it. Show me what the problem is.” Ethel talked me through the process of what she was doing so I asked her to also demonstrate. She mentioned that she had already ‘wasted’ quite a few 10p’s in trying to connect.
Ethel then showed me what was happening and proceeded to dial the number she wanted. She then popped in yet another 10p and announced, “same as last time. I put my money in but nothing. And I never get my coin back.”
I very quickly saw what the problem was. “Hang on Ethel, I know what the problem is” I informed her.
“Oh good”, she replied. “Is the payphone broken?”
“No, I don’t think so” I explained. “The problem is very simple. You’re putting your money into the jukebox!!”
Right alongside the payphone was the wall mounted jukebox. No wonder there was more and more music coming on and the lads on the pool were enjoying and making the most of the freebies. They were howling with laughter.
Payphone Drama All Sorted In The End
We managed to get Ethel sorted in the end. Mind you, I’m not sure if she ever recovered from the trauma of trying to use the one in The Saddle.
Back in those days, payphones were commonplace. It was hard to imagine then how they would effectively be replaced. But they were. And soon after, we were in the first phases of the mobile phone. Without doubt a great invention and very useful to have one. Unless of course you are in The Boot or The Falcon. Not quite sure what the “no mobile phones” ruling in those pubs is all about. Let’s hope they both have a payphone, especially in the case of an emergency.
Chester Lifestyle Blog Posts
Many thanks for reading my latest blog post – Payphone End Of An Era? Are you of an age where you also used payphones on a regular basis? Or, is the concept totally alien to you? If it is the end, is that a step forward in today’s world? Or, will they be missed? I reckon they’ll be missed. A quick trip down Memory Lane thrown in for good measure as well. And a humourous anecdote.
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