Old Portsmouth and Southsea

The cover photo for this blog is Commercial Road shopping precinct taken in 1988. I like it very much because like many others who miss it now, you can see C&A!

I’ve always said that in the eighties, Pompey was a great city to live in. I revisit at least once a year for nostalgic reasons and while there has been much regeneration, the one thing you can say is that the people are still the same warm friendly folk that will always have a chat or help out.

And yesterday’s visit was no exception. Arriving at The Hard interchange, the first thing you notice coming out of Portsmouth Harbour rail station is HMS Warrior.

THE DOCKYARD

Quite a queue at 10am and it will cost you £27 minimum now to walk around it. When I lived there in the 1980s it was free although I think I’m right in saying that if you had a bag with you, it was searched – bag searches were being carried out yesterday. While I can afford that price, I wasn’t paying it because I think it’s a little bit over the top. Imagine what a family of four would have to pay although there were plenty of takers.

OLD PORTSMOUTH

The row of public houses (I couldn’t find the Sally Port) are all places that me and a friend I’ve since lost touch with are still there; Keppels Head, The Lady Hamilton and Ship Anson.

I did want to find the American Bar. It’s tucked away somewhere inland but like so many Portsea Island pubs it may have also fallen by the wayside. I remember in those days a regular drinker called Martin, used to do the rounds in the local pubs, always carried a little plastic container with him that held twenty pence pieces, I’d never seen anyone else with one of those and I think it held five of the coins.

One pub that seemed new to me was The Dolphin although of course it may well have been there in the eighties. In those days in Southsea and elsewhere you could start the happy hours as early as 6pm too.

Another unfamiliar one I passed later in Southsea was The Lord Fitzclarence.

I’d forgotten about The Pembroke!

Gunwharf Quay was looking good in the unseasonal morning sunshine.

As was the Isle of Eight ferry. There was always that stand-in joke about getting duty frees on the Gosport ferry.

CLARENCE PIER

What we knew as the Hydrofoil is still there and of course, the array of amusements – that mini coaster is now called the Mad Mouse although I thought it may have been the Wild Mouse long before.

This little place of work was the Jubilee Tavern and interestingly the signage still remains. Now some kind of American bistro thing it’s never open at least in the mornings whenever I walk past.

On Fridays you could lock up after 11pm and move on to South Parade pier which was the place to be in those days. I spoke with a local trader selling hats on the pier and I said that I couldn’t promise to get the order right but there used to be 5th Avenue, Images and Joanna’s. He said that was correct. This is how it looks now.

And then? I couldn’t find any images of Images but here are two web-found photos of 5th Avenue and Joanna’s which of course was in the corner.

On the seafront walk from Clarence Pier to South Parade pier there is Southsea Common. Now I don’t know if the Southsea Show is still a thing but to earn extra money I used to work the beer tents and that was where a few friends who knew that, you could slip them a free pint. It was the same in pubs where in the mid-eighties electronic tills were just coming in; there were a few places that did ‘tick’ for regulars.

I also became aware as I walked that I didn’t really remember this rock formation.

CASTLE FIELD

Who remembers the Radio 1 Roadshows on there? Also, while the Pyramids still exists, it’s a gym and no longer a swimming facility. Then there was this new construction that looked fun, you can walk up into it which people were doing AND I assumed, it was free.

CANOE LAKE

Ride a white swan? The lake is as much as I remembered except that the new conveniences have the ladies roadside which used to be the mens.

SOUTHSEA

I forgot that Southsea had it’s own shopping area. Like a smaller version of Commercial Road, Knight & Lee was a blast from the past, I’m told a department store like the nearby Debenhams.

Some more photos of South Parade pier and the beaches, though a lovely day, little used in the back of what has been a tragic summer weather-wise.

Back in Southsea, two areas of note. This, in the roundabout used to be a thriving pub though I forget its name now and the second I’m sure, now under reconstruction was just called The Mary Rose, popular with students at the time with the university nearby.

Finally, back at Gunwharf, the old friend I mentioned at the beginning of this article, he was in admin on Nelson at the time and so where this new pub stands now, in the lounge area he told me is where his desk used to be!

I left just after 2pm, deciding not to lunch in the city as the trains are horrendous right now, still, it was an enjoyable few hours reminiscing and reuniting with Southsea.