How a humble old phone box came calling for Paul

IN the days before mobile phones, the local phone box was an important part of life.

For one Dublin man, however, a rundown disused old phone box turned out to be a lifesaver.

Paul Murphy, from Collins Avenue, was not in a good place in 2016.

He had just lost his job after 30 years working in the security industry and was suffering from depression and anxiety.

“I was sick of the corporate world, literally sick of it, I’d had enough,” Paul says.

“Things had been going well, we had gotten a massive contract to install the CCTV cameras into Croke Park which was worth a lot of money.

“Then the recession hit and everything came crashing down.”

The discovery of an old phone box on a family trip to west Cork that year would change his life in a most unexpected and positive way.

“I had always been interested in antiques and restoration so when I saw this old phone box it stirred something inside me.

“I had been involved in restoring clocks so I thought it would be exciting to try and restore an old phone box.

“I bought a vintage phone box for €1,000 and spent two months restoring it in my garden in Collins Avenue.

“The amount of people who called in to give me encouragement and praise really gave me a lift and made me feel good.

“It was quite a big challenge to restore the phone box and I honestly didn’t know if I would be able to do it.

“So when I managed to fully restore it I got great confidence to move on with my life and start something different, go down another road.

“Restoring that phone box gave me a new lease of life, made me happy and put a smile on my face.

“It motivated me and changed my life.”

After suffering with depression and anxiety Paul’s passion for restoration has led him to start a business restoring and selling antiques – in the middle of lockdown.

“Antique restoration and interiors became my thing and is now my passion.

“Since doing the first one four years ago I’ve restored five vintage phone boxes and I’m now in the process of starting up my own business in antique restoration and interiors, under the name of Phoneboxman.

“My latest phone box restoration project has gone to Kilmeague village Residents’ Association in Kildare.

“I hope I can be an example to anyone who is going through a tough time and wants to change their life.

“Find your passion, don’t stop looking.

“Little did I know that an old phone box would change my life!”

That very first phone box Paul restored, which he credits with turning his life around, was bought in an auction for €5,000 and now sits in a garden in Dundalk.

In recent years, the advent of mobile phones has seen many phone boxes fall into disrepair.

Over the past decade nearly all the country’s original telephone boxes have been dismantled and destroyed.

“There are very few of the old Irish phone boxes still in existence, you get the old red English ones quicker as there were much more of them made,” Paul added

“To those of us of a certain age, however, those old phone boxes will always hold very special memories.

“You would be amazed at some of the things people have told me they got up to in phone boxes!”