Lewisham phone box turned in to London's smallest library

 
Popular: the phone box library
Rachel Blundy28 March 2014

A man has created London's smallest library - in a phone box in Lewisham.

Sebastian Handley, 45, set up the free literary resource near his home in south-east London three months ago.

He bought the disused red K2 model for just £1 from British Telecom on behalf of the Brockley Society.

And now the project is going from strength to strength, with scores of people borrowing from it every day.

Mr Handley, who describes himself as a 'failed architect', spent £500 of his own money refurbishing the box on Loampit Hill and filling it with books.

Popular: the phone box library (Picture: Sebastian Handley)
Sebastian Handley

Despite his plans to move out of London next month, he hopes it will continue to provide for the community and has entrusted the project with another local resident.

He said: "All I've done is put up 8 shelves. I tend to turn everything I do into a grand project.

"[The phone box] is from a different age. It was unbearable to let it fall into ruin."

He continued: "I wasn't sure whether I should do it or what I had let myself in for. I wanted to start something up that is not bound up in any left-wing or right-wing ideology - it just works."

The library, which relies on users donating their own unwanted books when they borrow one, has so far remained intact and there have been no major thefts.

Creator: Sebastian Handley at the library (Picture: Butch Gordon)
Butch Gordon

Of the 200 books available, most are fiction, but biographies by Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson and glamour model Jordan have also proved popular.

The phone box now even features as a place of interest on Google Maps.

Mr Handley said: "It has become more of a landmark than a library. Most of the time, when I've been chatting to neighbours, it's been at the phone box."

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Anyone wishing to donate books is asked to give just a few at a time to avoid the space becoming cramped.

For more information visit Lewisham Micro Library on Facebook.

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