EDINBURGH, city of the world’s largest arts festival, home to the planet’s longest continually running film festival, and location of one of the grandest festivals of high culture is about to get a new addition to its already jam-packed calendar.
The first ever Festival of (ex-)Police Boxes will see the blue (and red and green and yellow) boxes dotted around the city brought back to life for a celebration on July 4 and 5.
The boxes will be used as venues for performances, storytelling, comedy, theatre, art displays and much more.
In the days before two-way radios there were many police boxes all over the country. Over the course of the last 50 years, the boxes have all but disappeared or been sold on.
Jonathan Elder from the festival said: “Many of these boxes are now in the hands of various community-minded individuals who are keen that they should remain part of local life. The members of the Edinburgh (ex-)Policebox Festival aim to service the city by providing creative spaces where local artisans can display their work and share their produce.”
The festival is hosting a launch night on May 29 featuring comedy and circus skills at the Pier Place Police Box in Newhaven.
Police boxes were phased out in Britain in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their use as, effectively, mini police stations became increasingly obsolete.
Police Scotland have sold all but two of the boxes in Edinburgh. The boxes were valued at around £6,000. each, although the ex-police box on the Royal Mile sold for £102,000 in 2012.
Many in the city are used to sell food or as tourist information. During the referendum, the Greens used a police box on Leith Walk as a Yes hub.
Although the programme for the Festival of (ex-)Police Boxes may look small on the outside, it is undoubtedly bigger on the inside.
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