City's 'smallest' coffee shop opens in phone box Published duration 3 August 2015

image caption Jake Hollier is the first person to rent one of Birmingham's phone boxes

A coffee shop said to be the smallest in Birmingham has opened in a red telephone box.

Jake's Coffee Box is located in a phone box in Eden Place, near Colmore Row.

A charitable trust called Thinking Outside The Box was granted planning permission to turn the phone boxes into kiosks and they have now been put up for rent.

Jake's Coffee Box, which is run by Jake Hollier, is the first person to rent one of the Birmingham phone boxes.

Mr Hollier, 23, who has been a healthcare assistant at City Hospital, said the project had been "six months in the making".

He said: "I wanted to bring something different to the city. The red boxes are iconic to our image as Brits.

"I've got a coffee machine and some sausage rolls. There is nowhere to sit in the telephone box. All my customers are going to be commuters."

image caption Mr Hollier said about 20 people had used the phone box in the first two hours

He said he had about 20 customers in his first two hours.

Asked about his first day, he said: "Everyone seems to look really oddly at me."

Thinking Outside The Box has already overseen a similar scheme at Brighton's Pavilion Gardens, where two phone boxes have become units selling coffee and ice cream.

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