PHOTOGRAPHED IN SEPTEMBER 2021
It would appear that weedkiller has been applied since my last visit in March 2019. Because of travel restrictions I could not visit Belfast in 2020.
The phone kiosk in my photograph is an example of a 1936 K6 ‘Jubilee Box’ and it is listed. It is a pity that it is not better maintained. As you can see from my photographs (September 2021)the kiosk, on North Street, is in very poor condition and the Belfast Bikes docking station is no longer at this location.
When I first photographed the kiosk in 2015 it was in good condition and appeared to be well maintained and there was a new Belfast Bikes docking station beside the Kiosk.
The Belfast Bikes station became operational at the location on the 15th April 2015 but it was removed sometime between my visit in 2018 and my visit in 2019. Late in 2017 it was announced that a few Belfast Bikes docking stations in the city centre were to be re-located to “areas of higher demand”. The following were listed for removal: East Bridge Street/Stewart Street, Winetavern Street, Dunbar Link, Writers’ Square and North Street.
Belfast City Council claimed that the stations to be closed were in “close proximity” to alternative stops, and “therefore would not create gaps in the network.
Lower North Street which has been described as “the street that time passed by”. It was external to the security barriers during the bombing campaign and as such it was avoided by shopkeepers and customers alike. It has never recovered especially following destruction and neglect of the North Street Arcade by fire.
