[Brighton] A nerdy question on Brighton phone numbers

[Gwylan]

Does anyone remember in what year Brighton phone numbers switched from five-figure to six. I know our first number in 1966 was five and when I started dialling my mates in 73, they were six - but what was the exact year they changed?

 

[el punal]

Don’t know about all that but I do remember - “You’ve phoned the Seagull line on Brighton 8049” , and it cost me a fortune as I had to use public call boxes as I was working oop north at the time.

 

[Swansman]

I hope someone knows or I'll need to waste my whole Saturday trying to find out..

 

[Jam The Man]

Definitely 100% completed in the early 90s. My nan and grandad were still on 5 digits in 90 for certain, as was my mum’s work .

 

[Swansman]

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/1025/

Maybe this collection of phone books could help you find the answer?

 

[Swansman]

There seem to be no straight forward answer but from reading...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_telephone_numbers_in_the_United_Kingdom

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_X_(telephony)

https://www.area-codes.org.uk/01273.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhONEday

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Number_Change

... I get the impression that there is no specific date or year but a gradual change with five digit numbers going extinct in most places somewhere in the early-mid 90s.

I love your question.

 

[Soylent Blue]

Usually change is phased in when they upgrade exchanges, maybe thats your best route of enquiry?.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Does anyone remember in what year Brighton phone numbers switched from five-figure to six. I know our first number in 1966 was five and when I started dialling my mates in 73, they were six - but what was the exact year they changed?

I’ve made a mental note; I’ll also raise this when my household conversation is dangerously close to drying up.

 

[zefarelly]

In Shoreham 4 digit, usually started with 4 . . .5 digits with 6 . . .. then the 45 or 4 prefix came in late 80's I think. We still have the same old BT prefixed 4 digit Shoreham number number my grandmother had in 1983 when she first moved to Shoreham.

I think different areas changed in stages. . . .the area codes all changed at the same time, I remember Steyning changing at a different time, dependent on local exchanges ?

Edit . . .Amberley museum will probably know . . .when it reopens . . . .go!

 

[Gwylan]

I’ve made a mental note; I’ll also raise this when my household conversation is dangerously close to drying up.

It's actually from a thread on another forum. Our household conversations are never as interesting as this

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Could probably be traced fairly easily via collection of old Albion programmes

 

[Nobby Horton's Knob]

When i moved to Woodingdean in 1975 my phone number was 39916, . By the time I moved to Preston Park Ave in 1984, my number had the extra 0. Mind you, i moved to 25 Rudyard Rd and within a few months, the house was renumbered to 33. Maybe piddling about with numbers was all the rage in the 70s??

 

[Eeyore]

Does anyone remember in what year Brighton phone numbers switched from five-figure to six. I know our first number in 1966 was five and when I started dialling my mates in 73, they were six - but what was the exact year they changed?

I think I can help, well, a little.

There was no set date. It was phased.

In the area I grew up in, Queen's Park, six digit numbers existed from before 1960 (but some stayed at five digits after then). However, in Patcham there are 5 digit numbers going to later in that decade and possibly beyond. I'm pretty sure the centre of town may have been quite some time after that. In 1980 numbers in Rottingdean/Saltdean were still five digits.

So the answer is really that there wasn't a switch over. It depended on the local exchange and the demand.

 

[Jack Straw]

I moved to Woodingdean aged 6 in late '62. We had a phone installed a year or so later. The number was 4009. It seems like it was a couple of years before a 3 was added, making it 34009. Therefore, my guess is 1966.

 

[bha100]

I think I can help, well, a little.

There was no set date. It was phased.

In the area I grew up in, Queen's Park, six digit numbers existed from before 1960 (but some stayed at five digits after then). However, in Patcham there are 5 digit numbers going to later in that decade and possibly beyond. I'm pretty sure the centre of town may have been quite some time after that. In 1980 numbers in Rottingdean/Saltdean were still five digits.

So the answer is really that there wasn't a switch over. It depended on the local exchange and the demand.

I think this is the correct answer,

 

[Eeyore]

I think this is the correct answer,

It's surprisingly wrong. Woodingdean/Rottingdean were still five numbers in the mid 80s as was the centre of town. Being a pedant, I've just looked at the 1983 phone book in Ancestry.

 

[bha100]

It's surprisingly wrong. Woodingdean/Rottingdean were still five numbers in the mid 80s as was the centre of town. Being a pedant, I've just looked at the 1983 phone book in Ancestry.

Do you think it would depend on what exchange you were connected to ?

I lived in, and knew a few who lived in the centre of town in the early 80's and they had 6 digit numbers, mine was 680555

or could it be that if you had a new line installed you were given a 6 digit number and the 5 digits were gradually withdrawn when you moved and the line was disconnected

 

[The Brighton Bear]

I worked at Allenwest in the mid seventies and their number was 66666 but soon changed to 606666.

 

[Eeyore]

Do you think it would depend on what exchange you were connected to ?

I lived in, and knew a few who lived in the centre of town in the early 80's and they had 6 digit numbers, mine was 680555

or could it be that if you had a new line installed you were given a 6 digit number and the 5 digits were gradually withdrawn when you moved and the line was disconnected

I think it must have been to do with the local exchanges.

Interesting logic re: disconnections. I don't know the answer to that one.

My parents number in Queen's Park was six digits from the start (about 1968). But I also saw a number around the time less than half a mile away that was five and began with 6.

Patcham and Hollingbury numbers seem to covert in 1970s. I don't think I saw any that were five numbers in the 1983 book. But Woodingdean and Rottingdean (those beginning with 3) took a long time to come over.

 

[Gwylan]

Thanks for this. It's interesting that there was such wide variation just in B&H. This is a Fiveways number and as I know that Fiveways had six figures by late 73, my guess is something like 71 or 72 is about right