Bures, Telephone Exchanges.

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Serving the communities of Bures St Mary and Bures Hamlet

The Telephone Exchanges in Bures

It was reported in the "Suffolk and Essex Free Press" the First Telephone Exchange opened in the village circa 8th March 1922.
The location was in the Post Office at Church Square
Early (circa 1930) allocated numbers were as follows:-

Mr E. Radford.(Postmaster & Call Office)....No1
The Hon Mrs J Stirling ......No2
Gordon Drak, Butchers.... No3
George Hume, Bures Hall.....No4
Brand & Sons.... No5
Deaves Builders/Gas & Coke Co Ltd..... No6
David Griffith Physician..... No7
Church`s Seeds..... No8
C Hitchcock. Miller.....No9
E. Cousins/Eight Bells/Car repairs.... No10
H. C. Chambers, Coal Merchants ...No11
George Barron, Farmer ....No12
E Webber/Farmer....No13
Webb and Packe/General Agents..... No14
Hon H. R. Balfour ....No15

J. R. H.Probert....No16
E. Tufnull....No17
M. C.Hitchcock....No18
E. Pennefalter.....No19
G Scoones/High Pale..... No20
Melso Dyers/Factory..... No21
E Carter/Angel Inn..... No22
S. J. Tufnell...No23
R. Bugg/Fruit Growers....No24
Dr Thomas Wood.....No25
Gosvenor Berry/Farmer.....No26
F Pilmott/Farmer....No27
H. M. Miller.....No28
A. Laurie, Butlers Farm.....No29
W.B. Goddard.....No30
Miss M. Woodhouse....No31

	No1 The General Stores and Post Office owned by Mr Radford in Church Square was the location of the first manually operated telephone exchange. It opened during 1922 and closed in 1939 The Telephone Directory issued in 1924 listed 25 subscribers.
.	No2 Mechanical Strowger Telephone Exchange (UAX13)opened on 2nd March 1939 located in Colchester Rd. The initial number of subscribers on changeover was 98. 30.09.1944 listed 110 subscribers 30.06.1948 listed 166 subscribers October 1957, the Post Office agreed to install a "Sanitary Annexe" This was quite unusual for a remote UAX to have toilet facilities 09.12.1965 listed 350 subscribers 20.07.1972 listed 593 subscribers 01.02.1977 (closure) listed 657 subscribers The Telephone Exchange closed down in 1977 and in the mid 80`s it was purchased by Mr and Mrs Harrod to be used by the Royal Mail as a Sorting Office. During the Summer of 2025, with the rapid decline in Mail being delivered in Bures, the need for the Sorting Office was no longer required <<<<<<<<<<< Mail is now sorted at Sudbury and Colchester Royal Mail Depots Subsequently, the building was placed on the Market For Sale in 2025 It was Privately Purchased during July 2025 18/03/26 Advertised for Commercial office/studio/nursery space for rental at:- £950 per month
NO 3
Current Telephone Exchange located in Nayland Road. Entrance road runs alongside the front of the Horseshoes Public House Typical uniform "H" type Telephone Exchange building. You can see identical buildings at Nayland, Fordham, Earls Colne, Boxford, Gt Horkesley Coggeshall etc Plans were drawn up for this building in 1973 and 1974 It was a long drawn out procedure to purchase the land and get quotations It finally opened the 1st February 1977 with 657 subscribers. All existing 3 figure numbers were prefixed with 227 and 4 figures numbers with 22. At that time of opening, it had a capacity to connect 1000 subscribers. In the 1980`s numbers were running out and new subscribers started with 228 Bures is parented onto Sudbury Exchange, Newton Rd. Kingsbury & Sons of Boxford were awarded the work They were not the lowest price, but midway at £59,491. Strange why Pilgrim Builders, Bures never tendered for the work
July 2014 Exchange currently has 1213 residential and 63 business customers Circa 2015 all BT Buildings and are now managed by a company called "CBRE" who previously were BT Facilities Open Reach still own the Telecom equipment inside. As time progresses, all the Fibre switching equipment will be housed in the Green Cabinets you see alongside the roads, The Exchange Buildings will then be surplus to requirements and sold off by Auction, There are currently 5,600 exchange Buildings in the UK
Information Courtesy of British Telecom Archives Updated 07.06,2022 Updated with Tender doc 27/10/2022