BT hub approved in Preston city centre

Monday, 8 September 2025 07:50

By Paul Faulkner

A pair of dilapidated phoneboxes in Preston city centre are to be replaced with a modern ‘digital hub’ offering free wi-fi.

The new BT unit – which will also incorporate advertising display screens – will be sited on the same spot as the back-to-back call booths on Church Street, opposite its junction with Grimshaw Street.

Preston City Council has given the go-ahead to the installation of the facility, having refused permission last month to put the same hub in two other locations – on Friargate North and New Hall Lane – where planners concluded it would be too cluttering.

However, the authority has decided that the circumstances are different on Church Street, where the three-metre tall, one-and-a-quarter-metre wide unit has been approved.

As well as the wi-fi connection, the hub will provide free UK calls, a USB charging point and an emergency services contact button. The digital screens – one on either side of the unit – will radiate both adverts and local public information messages.

In a report outlining the reasons for their decision to give the green light to the facility, town hall planning officers noted that the two existing phoneboxes at the site “are in a state of disrepair and are considered to detract from the character and appearance of the area”.

The proposed Friargate North hub would also have replaced a phonebox. However, in the Church Street case, it was judged that while the hub will be around half a metre taller than the traditional booths it will dislodge – and so will be “noticeably larger in scale and brighter in illumination” than any advertisements elsewhere on the route – it should not cause “any unacceptable harm” to the street scene.

The display screens will not be permitted to show any moving, flashing or scrolling images, so as not to be a distraction to passing traffic. Each static advert or message must appear for a minimum of 10 seconds and the brightness of the displays will be limited between dusk and dawn, according to applicable guidelines.

The city council is yet to decide on applications for two other BT hubs – on Friargate South, near McDonald’s, and at another site on New Hall Lane.