The worst thing about Edinburgh’s hidden cache of traditional police call boxes is that they don’t resemble Doctor Who’s TARDIS in any way, a tourist-friendly missed trick which everyone who poses outside the perfectly Whovian one on Glasgow's Buchanan Street will tell you. Yet television references aside, they’re things of beauty which are not often thrown proper light onto, despite the number which have been taken over as coffee bars and so on.
Photo: Jenny Humberstone, hereandnow.org.uk
'They’re beautiful monuments which have been part of the community and really loved,' says Johnathan Elders, who owns one of the number of police boxes put on sale by the City of Edinburgh Council in recent years – the one in Newhaven - and who plans to open it as his own artistic workspace and a micro-gallery for other artists to show in. Elders is also one of around twenty box owners who will be instigating this year’s first ever Edinburgh Police Box Festival, offering art, crafts and food over the first weekend in July to show off these lovely, versatile pieces of street furniture.
While police boxes first came into use in Glasgow in 1891, used for the purpose of taking shelter and calling the police if in distress, Edinburgh’s Ebenezer MacRae-designed version didn’t come into use until the early 1930s, a sturdy metal design in contrast to previous wooden efforts. 'They’re part of the city’s architectural heritage,' continues Elders. 'By opening them up we get to share them and celebrate them, as well as offering artisanal produce and other things. A whole bunch of eccentrics have managed to get hold of these sites.'
Photo: Jenny Humberstone, hereandnow.org.uk
As well as the current activities those who own the boxes are using them for, this celebratory festival will also focus on the historical significance of these sites, with a speaker from the national Library of Scotland coming to the opening and the Newhaven Heritage Group working with Elders on his site. As far as geographic explorations of the city go, this one will tell you plenty and keep you fed.
Edinburgh’s Police Box festival launches at the police box on Newhaven Harbour on Fri May 29 and runs around the city on Sat Jul 4 and Sun Jul 5.