Thousands of red telephone
boxes are being sold off as many get little use. But some savvy
entrepreneurs are finding alternative uses for them.
Here, business owner Ben Spier explains why he started selling salads from one of Britain's best-known landmarks:
I first thought of running my business from an old red telephone box when I walked past a poster advertising that they could be rented out.
Until then I had been selling my hearty and colourful salads at markets across London in an insulated trailer that I built with a mate.
I had been looking for a permanent home to run my business, but was put off by the high rents.
But when I saw the advert, I realised if I could put shelves up the inside of the door and a fridge inside, I could sell from there at a fraction of the cost.
I sent my friend some very poorly drawn sketches of the wooden pod I thought we'd need to build inside and we built it, just about managing to squeeze a fridge into the space.
In May 2016, I began selling the food in London's Bloomsbury Square, offering a menu of five seasonal dishes.
telephone box proved to be the perfect business incubator - it was relatively low rent for the exposure to footfall that I got - although the limited capacity of the fridge meant I only had space for a maximum of 60 customer's worth of salads.
Everyone loved the quirkiness, but for me it was key just as a base from which to sell - I wanted to make sure people knew our lunches were top notch and that it wasn't all a gimmick!
It worked because I had lots of regulars from the nearby offices - they proved to be a higher proportion of my customers than tourists, so I could tell the salads were drawing people back.
Although, I always enjoyed the bewilderment on tourists' faces when they saw the converted telephone box.