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The blue 'police box' next to the town hall


Sheffield History

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Any pics of it being blue , or links too when/why it was painted green. Can,t find any other mention of it originally being blue (apart from the light ) ??

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Those images take me back!.....I used to be a copper based at West Bar 1979/1980 and often used to use this box to phone the nick back on the landline when my radio wouldn't work.

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Who are they please ? and what do they do ?

This ex-Police box is now used by the City of Sheffield Ambassadors (Wardens) as a base & they are there quite regular.

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Who are they please ? and what do they do ?

When they began they were smartly dressed in blazers and collar and tie, and strolled around the city centre being pleasant to people, giving directions etc. They now look like some kind of paramilitary force with police style clobber, belts full of equipment, and go round issuing fines to people dropping litter. To me I'm afraid they now look as friendly as a cornered rat!

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Looking at this it does explain how their role changed from assistance to enforcement. I think they should have changed their name as well though, ambassadors they're not. I've yet to see one smile. Perhaps they're trained in the same place as parking wardens?

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Just quickly re-read this lot. It seems that no one has come up with when it became green and why.

As far as I recall they were always blue when I was young. Am I wrong ?

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Just quickly re-read this lot. It seems that no one has come up with when it became green and why.

As far as I recall they were always blue when I was young. Am I wrong ?

As far as I know the Sheffield Police Call Boxes were always painted light green and cream.

Certainly they were from my earliest recollections during the early nineteen fifties.

The only thing blue about them was the shade on the lamp on a swan neck over the front.

In Rotherham they had a sort of cabinet on a post with a lantern on top, all painted dark blue.

The town hall box colour scheme looks about spot on to the boxes I remember.

HD

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According to the Star it was decomissioned in the 60's, but I'm sure it was still in use by the police into the mid/late 70's.

Having now read a slightly different version in today's Telegraph, what happened in the 60's was that they were no longer used by the beat bobbies. The one outside the Town Hall though I do remember still being used by the police, notably the Town Hall Bobby, long into the 70's

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2 hours ago, andy1702 said:

The one in Dr Who is supposed to be a concrete one too. It's (supposedly) exactly the same model as the one at Crich. I say supposedly because the Tardis actually changes on a fairly regular basis. It really winds me up when they get banging on about the Doctor's "funny wooden box". Just because the BBC made a wooden prop years ago, now all the brain-dead writers think a real box of this type is wood, which it definitely IS NOT. Wooden police boxes, like the one in Sheffield, are different.

Since the first post you quoted was written, I’ve joined the Traffic Dept at Crich and become a conductor. 

We use the Tardis in summer to store bottled water in for the crews to grab a drink in between trips. This summer (my first season) it has been packed out down there and the tardis has had many admirers.

Some one mentioned, a few weeks back, that they though it was the last of its kind in existence. 

 

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One of the small pleasures of working there is getting in early and having the place to yourself for a few minutes. 

I love being in just before my shift starts, grabbing a coffee and sitting down at Town End watching the world go by for a bit. I also get the odd nice picture...

EC65D533-CE44-44E7-A603-742A49C9445D.jpeg

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On 27/03/2007 at 16:29, Guest Rachy said:

looking at the box from Fargate

 

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Looking at box from Surrey Street

 

dscn0380ic9.jpg

 

Inside the box

 

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Looking across to Yorkshire Bank

 

dscn0377dq2.jpg

 

Looking across to Fargate

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thanks to South Yorkshire Police for the permission to take the pics.

Oh no I can't open them and my Dad PC 124 Frank Roberts used to be the Town Hall Policeman for some time and talked a lot about PC Judd. Yes my Dad used to take his mash into the green box to make and also his sandwiches.  My Mum used to take me down to watch my Dad directing traffic. When he got bored and cars stopped to ask the way he used to direct them wrongly to see if they came round again !!

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On 03/03/2009 at 19:14, ukelele lady said:

 

 

 

There used to be one built into the wall of the Infirmary on Montgomery Terrace Road.

We used to call them coppers dens. :rolleyes:

Yes, I can confirm that when my Dad was doing this on nights, he used to line his uniform with brown paper and have a bottle of cough mixture in his pocket but he still got bronchitis most winters. 

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9 minutes ago, Lola said:

Oh no I can't open them and my Dad PC 124 Frank Roberts used to be the Town Hall Policeman for some time and talked a lot about PC Judd. Yes my Dad used to take his mash into the green box to make and also his sandwiches.  My Mum used to take me down to watch my Dad directing traffic. When he got bored and cars stopped to ask the way he used to direct them wrongly to see if they came round again !!

Those photos/links may not exist now, that post was created 13 years ago.

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