World News for Students of English

22-09-2016 15:00

Britain’s red phone boxes might not be used for their original purpose anymore in an age of smartphones, but one company is giving the famous booths a makeover as small offices.

Pod Works is hoping to lure people from coffee shops to work on their laptops in its revamped booths, which while not for the claustrophobic, boast Wi-Fi, plug sockets, a phone, a printer, a scanner and free coffee and tea.

“We thought it was a good idea to re-purpose these and take them into the 21st century. The sheer volume of tourists that come and stand by the box and take selfies and photographs indicates just how iconic and important they are.”

Once dotting British cities, towns, and villages, the iconic red phone boxes dwindled in numbers over the years.

Pod Works launches its first work station in London’s Russell Square this month and it is opening others across the capital soon. It plans to expand to other cities in October.

Difficult words: booth (a small space which allows privacy for telephoning, for example), lure (attract), revamped (renovated), sheer (big), dot (being placed over an area), dwindle (become fewer).

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