Anyone else remember ‘01’ for London?

[KnewYearKnewMe]

I’m reading The Mandibles, and it talks about a fictional big deal when the US international country code for their phones was ‘downgraded’ from 1 to 2..

It got me wondering if anyone else remembers when London’s phone area code was just 01 all over – and the uproar when they changed it to 071 and 081? I still remember people getting really aggrevated about being lumped into “outer London” with an 081 number when they were sure instead of they should be thr apparently much posher 071!

It all seemed very snobby looking back. Yet people did get very wound up.

for anyone younger – this was back when we actually used landlines and knew people’s phone numbers - Imagine that 😂😂)

Would love to hear if anyone else remembers – or any other examples of people getting terribly snobby about something that seems pretty daft to you .

Yes I am old and remember.
But Bedford had the truly elite code. We went from 0234 to
01234

I remember my vicar being quite exercised about this and smiling and nodding politely through my confusion. I thought I was pedantic but I can’t get worked up about that distinction. 😊

I'm so old that I remember when London numbers first went digital and lost their names.

They were usually the place name, but our exchange, in the south-east corner of Croydon, was Lodge Hill, and my aunt's in Sutton, was Vigilant, for some inexplicable reason.

I can hear aunt's voice in my head now, answering the phone and saying "Vigilant 3478"...

I remember when the phone numbers were all changed. I remember thinking how many letter heads and stationery would need to be replaced😃

That is fantastic. Like the phone number of a Cold War secret society. Did spectre answer the phone like that, I wonder?

‘Swing your pants’ 😁

I remember it being 0810118181, before it became 0181. That might have been Going Live.

I’m in the midlands and remember our number going from 021 for Birmingham to 0121. So old. Sometimes I’ll see a ghost shop sign with 021 on.

😄😄 oh

Oh that is excellent 😁

LakieLady - I was just about to write my post about my family's first 'phone being a DOMinion number! I remember it so well - a nice cream colour one in the passage - and a little green plush seat with the telephone table. (I'm old as well 😄).

I’m from Manchester and ours used to be 061…it’s now 0161. I can remember all the advertising before the codes changed on "PhONEday" (mid 90s…I had two toddlers so was at home) which involved adding a "1" to existing area codes, like turning 071 (Inner London) into 0171, or mine from 061 to 0161.

"Fun fact". The codes aren't random. They have meanings... a two letters code based on the place name, then a number. My childhood one was "01689"... or OT9... Orpington.

Fair enough! All new landlines post 020 started with a 3 (so 020 3XXX XXXX), regardless of where in London they were, providing that 0207 and 0208 didn’t exist. If I rang my mum in outer London from my home in inner, I didn’t need to dial 0208.
I think that those who couldn’t remember London with a single code struggled to get their heads around this, plus everyone was moving onto mobiles.

I remember our neighbours, who were very flash, getting an extension phone in their bedroom.

At the time, this was like something out of Hollywood - we didn't know anyone who had 2 phones in the house.

Our phone was in the living room, so not at all private. I used to take the dog for a walk so I could phone my mates from a phone box so we could talk about which boys we fancied...

You can say that till you are blue in the face but I will always dial my parent’s phone number (one of the few home landlines I still call) as 0208 xxx xxxx, because the xxx xxxx has remained the same for half a century.

The chances of me calling them from a land line are almost zero. (And I still just dial it rather than use contacts).

It was 081 811 8181 when it was Going Live - the first 1 wasn't added until the mid-90s and by then it was Live and Kicking 🤓

And the address... London W12... 6LA!!!!!!

”0207” or “0208” was what has been added to our phone numbers in place of “071” and “081” so that kind of how you thought of it. I think, actually, we carried on being able to use the old 7 digit versions of our numbers within London for some time (without adding the 8 or 7 on the front). Which would help explain it. Anyone remember how long that lasted?

Well, of course. Doesn’t mean that there was ever a London code of 0208, though!

In my head there is! 😁

No, it wasn’t. 0171 XXX XXXX changed to 020 7XXX XXXX. Lots of people think this is what happened, but it wasn’t. It didn’t!

I still have a set of commemorative 'Ph01ne Day' (used) phone cards that I saved at the time thinking they might be worth a fortune in the future (they aren't) 😆

Oh yes sorry. Missed a step out. It honestly seemed constant growing up.

Did she have an ‘ology’?

Also Birmingham and worked for 192 Directory Enquiries whilst the number changes were happening.

LakieLady - an extension - such sophistication!
Discussing boys you fancied - my hobby at the time!