Is By the Red Phone Box Still Open? The Hotel Inspector Update

Channel 5's The Hotel Inspector visited By the Red Phone Box, a camping and glamping site on a working farm at Knighton on Teme near Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, in the episode first shown on 2025-08-07 (series 20, episode 4). According to TheTVDB, farmers Ian and Emma had put their savings into a back-to-nature glamping business on their 25-acre livestock holding. The entry lists unappealing accommodation, falling bookings and poor marketing as the problems Alex Polizzi had to tackle.

Modern Campground, in an article published on 2025-08-08 and last modified on 2025-08-15, described a small site with off-grid pitches, a shepherd's hut and a bell tent, run by third-generation farmer Ian and his wife Emma. It reported that occupancy had dropped to 34 percent after the post-pandemic holiday boom. The article said Polizzi set a £1,000 upgrade budget, including turning a lantern tent into a romantic retreat from reclaimed materials. It said she also suggested personal touches such as a local-produce hamper, urged a stronger online presence and held an open-house event for local residents. According to Modern Campground, the couple installed a stove in the lantern tent and redesigned their website after filming, and within three weeks reported a first booking in the new tent and a completed stay in the shepherd's hut.

Pitchup.com's listing for the site, with guest reviews from August to October 2026 and a review summary updated on 2026-10-13, gave a 2026 season running from 3 April to 1 November and a 2027 season opening on 30 April, with a 9.4 rating from 59 guests. The business's own website, titled "Camping and Glamping on the Worcestershire / Shropshire Border", was loading on 2026-10-19 with a midweek offers banner and a menu link to the television appearance, but no dated news item.