Telephone Exchanges – Wigan

Posted on by modernmoocher

Wandering around Wigan left and then left out of Wigan Wallgate ending up on the corner of Dorning Street, there’s a big red brick building.

1882

Where all this went on in 1946.

BT Archives

And all this went on too!

I only worked there very briefly in 1965, to do my Test Desk Training. It was a pleasant, if too hot, place to work: I remember being taken out for lunch at the Grand on my first day – very nice!

One peculiarity, which always stuck in my mind, was the canteen, upstairs, where the men all clung to one side, and the women to the other, never saw that anywhere else.

I was a telephonist 1961 -1968, I married a telephone engineer, you are right about the canteen or kitchen upstairs. When I first started after I’d finished my training I was sent down to the test desk for a long stand. Being a naive little thing I did as I was told, then sent out for some sky hooks and hen party hens, the girls I worked with were a great bunch we had ball best working years of my life, still friends with some of the telephonists I worked with – happy days.

Walking down Dorning Street one day going back to work and on the pavement outside the Grand there was a half crown. Tried to pick it up to howls of laughter. The lads in the telephone exchange opposite had welded a nail to it and pushed it in the ground between the paving flags. Very funny, and no I didn’t get it out.

Wigan World

hen you notice that there’s a Sixties’ neighbour.

With narrow windows and inset light and dark tan tiles.

Prior to the exchange of telecommunications’ messages, the site was preoccupied by the exchange of partisan residents with a predilection for particular political persuasions.

Let’s back track along Dorning Street and follow the aroma of Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls – to the Santus Works and beyond.

There stands a concrete behemoth.

Which has of late been beset with particular problems of its own.

Minefield of lager cans near Wigan school sparks worry Wigan councillors.

They are on a mission to stop the grounds of a derelict building, which lies just yards away from a school, being used as a drinking den.

Wigan Today

Though in fairness I was witness to neither a minefield or drinking den – just a telephone exchange.

BT Building – Stoke on Trent

Posted on by modernmoocher

Lytton Street Stoke on Trent Staffordshire

Almost not quite in the shadow of nearby neighbour the Hanley Tower, this little gem sits tucked away by the side of Queensway, minding its very own business.

The business of telecommunications.

Just a short walk from the railway station let’s take a look.

BT Telephone Exchange – Ashton under Lyne

Posted on by modernmoocher

BT Roundabout OL6 6QQ

In 1913 Ashton is already a crowded town, a cotton town.

The first telephone exchange arrives and sweeps away property at the junction of Scotland and Bedford Streets.

The second arrives along with the bypass and establishes a roundabout, an island of telecommunication.

Tameside Image Archive

There they sit betwixt St Michael’s Parish Church and Albion Congregational.

A marriage of inter-war brick Revivalism and post-war concrete Brutalism.

Ninety nine point nine percent of the passing parade pass by onto the bypass by car, I took time to circumnavigate the site on foot.

This is what I saw.

Telephone Exchange Gateshead

Posted on by modernmoocher

Having formerly posted a post about the Hadrian TSC in Newcastle, it seemed only right to record it’s not too distant cousin across the Tyne.

Here we are at the confluence of main roads.

I wandered around circuitously, circumnavigating this fine building.

The attendant BT workers are as ever kind and helpful, many thanks.

BT Building – Warrington

Posted on by modernmoocher

Wilson Patten street Warrington Cheshire WA1

A forgotten part of Warrington town centre could be turned into plush new affordable flats.

Developers are looking to put an eight-storey apartment block off Wilson Patten Street close to the former BT telephone exchange building – described in the planning application as an:

ugly concrete monolith

It would be home to a mix of forty one, two and three bed flats on the spare land which is currently used as a car park.

Warrington Guardian

Typically the architecture of Twentieth Century infrastructure is reviled and ridiculed – simply swept away by contemporary, anonymous design and construction.

At least in this instance the developers intend to retain the ugly concrete monolith.

For me it is an essay in confident construction and decoration, the marriage of 1955’s brick utilitarianism, with a later concrete structure.

Poised on massive grey piloti, rising elegantly above the town.

Adorned with a simple articulation of surface.

KCOM – Hull

Posted on by modernmoocher

37 Carr Lane Hull HU1 3RB

When Hull City Council founded KCOM back in 1904, as Hull Telephone Department, it was one of several local authorities across the country granted a licence to run its own phone network.

Gradually, over time other authorities gave up control of their networks to the Post Office which wanted to create a single national service, but Hull City Council decided to keep its network and continue to go it alone.

While the Post Office network eventually became BT, Hull’s network, like the city itself, remained fiercely independent. That’s why today Hull has its own distinct cream phone boxes in contrast to the red ones you’ll find elsewhere.

KCOM

1952 Call Father Christmas service was introduced.

Having heard of a recorded message service in Scandinavia, Hull Councillor J M Stamper suggested the idea of putting Father Christmas on the telephone. The Call Father Christmas service was introduced shortly afterwards, the first of its kind in the UK. By dialling a Hull Central number children could hear recordings of a Christmas story and carol singing.

The stories were written and performed by Hull Telephone employees.

The first story attracted 20,000 callers, with 35,000 customers the following year with calls and media interest received nationally and internationally.

The success of the Father Christmas service led to the creation of other recorded information lines, such as Bedtime Stories, Teledisc and Telechef.

This recipe line was introduced in 1950s and was still going strong until the 1990’s, with 50s recipes such as meat loaf and corned beef with cabbages being replaced by dishes such as Italian Chicken Bake.
1964 Celebrating our Diamond Jubilee with the official opening of the new Central Exchange and Head Office – Telephone House in Carr Lane Hull.

KCOM History

The work of City Architect A Rankine OBE RIBA
2007 New company name as Hull City Council sell remaining stake.

The shareholders of Kingston Communications HULL PLC voted to change the company name to KCOM Group PLC to more accurately reflect the changing shape and geographic reach of the company.

Hull City Council sell remaining stake-holding in the business.

This is a fine building of brick, concrete, stone and steel, a restrained palette and commanding volumes, which asserts itself within the framework of the surrounding post-war architecture.

Well worth a walk around – let’s circumnavigate right now!

Good night all, sweet dreams and don’t forget to call Santa – hope that you all enjoyed your corned beef and cabbage.