Bob Hind | A look at 1970s Commercial Road and the early days of Leigh Park

We are looking south down Commercial Road sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s I would think. To the left is the Black Cat cafe which was, as I remember, up a flight of stairs and above John Temple’s shop.

To the right is H Samuel, jewellers. I wonder how many young men bought their engagement rings here and later, wedding rings?

This was a time when Commercial Road was the place to shop and there was such a vast quantity of businesses it attracted shoppers from far and wide, unlike today of course.

On the right past Samuel’s there was Dixon’s photography, Taylor’s wool shop, Strictly for the Birds boutique, Meaker’s men’s wear, Marks and Spencer, Dunn & Co Littlewoods and Woolworth’s.

On the left past the cafe there was the Southern Gas Board, Solitaire Ladies Fashions, Broon Street employment agency, (maybe a typo for Brook Street) and Hardy & Co house furnishers to Crasswell Street junction. Just a few many of you may remember.

I must admit, I do not remember the road being this narrow so it might have been when the road was being made into a precinct.

Are the three girls crossing the road still with us I wonder? Please let me know if you are.

Botley Drive, Leigh Park, circa 1953

Not the best of photographs but it will be of great interest to older residents of Leigh Park as it shows houses being built along Botley Drive. The photographer is standing on the scaffold of what would be come house Number 7. A bricklayer can also be seen on the left.

In the distance the oak trees are at the junction of Highclere Avenue. To the left were several closes all named after villages in Hampshire, Anmore, Bentworth and Ewhurst Closes’.

Behind the photographer would have been a new junction with what was to become Purbrook Way. At first, there was a curve outside of what is now 2 to 12 Botley Drive.

At one time the section of what is now Purbrook Way from Dunsbury Way was called Botley Drive and was in Stockheath. When the estate expanded and Botley Drive was constructed it became a T junction and the top section of of Botley Drive from Dunsbury Way became Purbrook Way. It later extended down to Park Lane, Bedhampton and then all the way to the Hulbert Road where there was another simple T junction. Nowadays it is the site of the massive Asda five-road roundabout.

When my parents moved to what was to become Leigh Park in 1949 their address was 58 Botley Drive, Stockheath, Petersfield, Hants. After the junction was made it became 58, Purbrook Way, Leigh Park, Havant, Hants.

Foyles War error

No doubt many of you are fans of the wartime detective series Foyles War. There are several mistakes which the late Eddie Wallace told me were unforgivable. It just needed more research.

Eddie was of course a police fireman in Portsmouth during the blitz on the city during the war and later a sergeant. He was well know all over the city. He was a great friend to me when writing my columns.

Foyle is titled Detective Chief Inspector Christopher Foyle (DCI) but, as Eddie told me, the term did not exist until 1949.

Date for your diary

For those interested in vintage Portsmouth transport, on Sunday, September 3 the City of Portsmouth Preserved Transport Depot at Wicor, Portchester will be open to the public.