Village's Stereophonics phone box has 'likely been scrapped'

A south Wales phone box made famous by rock group Stereophonics has "likely been scrapped", telecoms firm BT has revealed.

The red kiosk in the band's home village of Cwmaman, Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT), had become a favourite destination for visiting fans after providing the site for a celebrated photoshoot in 1997.

It was removed by BT in 2019, angering locals who lobbied to have it put back. BT now says "those conversations were not followed up during the pandemic", resulting in the box spending years in storage where it can no longer be located.

Vikki Howells, MS for Cynon Valley, had previously called it "an important cultural landmark" and admitted to being "very disappointed" at the news.

The kiosk was where, nearly 29 years ago, the group's original line-up of Kelly Jones, Richard Jones and Stuart Cable posed for veteran photographer Martyn Goodacre, whose portfolio includes the legendary likes of The Rolling Stones and Nirvana.

The group had just released their debut album Word Gets Around and were on the cusp of winning Best British Breakthrough Act at the 1998 Brit Awards.

Having had various upgrades during its lifetime - including new glass, paintwork and signage - the payphone was one of several to have been earmarked for removal across RCT in 2019.

According to BT's records, it had only been used 13 times in the 12 months prior to being taken away.

However, the likes of Howells fought at the time to get it back.

"I worked really hard to get it returned to Cwmaman, but I needed to find people willing to take responsibility for its upkeep once it got back there," she said.

"Unfortunately, Covid came along not long afterwards and its impact was so great on so many lives.

"As a result, most folk understandably had little time to think of anything else."

Shaun Griffiths, who runs The Shepherds Arms pub on Fforchaman Road, where the phone box had stood for decades, said it was a "real shame to hear what's happened".

"Fans would come from all over the place to have their photos taken there, which was always a good thing for a little village like this.

"There was even talk of transforming it into a mini music booth in which you could hear 'Phonics tunes playing - even turning it into a book exchange or heart defibrillator station would have been good."

A BT spokesperson said requests to adopt the kiosk in 2019 "had not followed the usual process, the payphone having already been removed following a formal consultation".

"Conversations about adoption were then not followed up during the pandemic.

"We can confirm that the payphone is no longer being stored by our contractor, and, while our records do not go back that far, it is likely to have been scrapped," they added.