I contacted a company who stocks spares for UK payphones, asking them to send me a set of keys to try.

They replied with "That will not be possible" and the following photo.

@jonty I think those are all for the customer-premises types of payphone (solitaire etc) - they all seem to be tubular locks

I'm not sure about the generation you've got, but earlier payphone keys wereregional, so each telecom region had their own set of bittings.

I expect yours is similar, so if there is any way to narrow down where it was originally installed - and then you try some of the ex-BT staff facebook groups, you might luck out and find someone who didn't return their keys?

@lpbkdotnet Yep, we realised that too!

This phone came from Bath (we've even found the phonebox), but I'm not sure I can be bothered to chase engineers. We know the lock was changed in 2007 as we did some keyhole surgery to extract the logbook.

@jonty Oh it's that one!

I had wondered who won it.

Unfortunately, although I do know a few current and ex engineers from the westcountry, none of them were in Bath as far as I know.

However, I "might" know someone who knows someone... It may come to nothing, but it can't hurt to ask.

I had previously asked someone who I know used to steal cash from payphones in the early 90s how they got in

Unfortunately their methods were horrifically destructive - so not a suitable approach here!

@jonty sadly I drew a blank on the keys

However, they did offer me these locks which look like they "might" be the right fit

They've had the pins removed, so will operate with a screwdriver - but (assuming they fit) will still hold the case shut without looking too "wrong"

Let me know if you want these spares as a backup option in case you end up with no options apart from drilling.

It might be more fun to lend it to the EMF locksport village as a challenge though?