Coffee kiosk plan for Waterloo phone box rejected by council

The K2 model phone box outside the Waterloo Action Centre in Baylis Road failed to meet its guide price of £45,000 at last year's auction but did change hands for £25,000.

Last month we reported on plans by Saira Iqbal and Bilal Hassan to turn the grade II listed phone box into a kiosk selling "coffee, ice-cream and other hot beverages, pre-prepared packed food items and cold drinks".

Now the pair's planning application has been rejected by Lambeth Council officers.

Refusing the application, Lambeth Council says: "The proposed alterations would alter the historic fabric of the grade II listed telephone kiosk, which would be to the detriment of the special interest of this historic building and fail to preserve and enhance the character and appearance of the Lower Marsh Conservation Area."

Lambeth has previously rejected a number of similar applications to convert disused phone boxes in the Waterloo and South Bank area.

A 2017 application for permission to convert the same phone box into an office pod was turned down by the council for similar reasons.

In his report on the application, case officer Michael Clawson wrote: "The optimum use for any heritage asset is typically its historic use, and we would maintain that the use of this kiosk as a telephone kiosk is its best use, to maintain its special interest.

"As an iconic piece of design and as a landmark structure, its continued use as a kiosk forms part of the kiosk's special interest."