Cosham and Portsdown Hill in old pictures | Nostalgia

I say atop but this location was lowered in the early 19th century to save horses the hard drag up the hill from Cosham.

At one time the junction would have been level with the roof of The George.

Before the house was demolished and London Road bypassed the pub on the western side from 1968, this was a very busy junction, so much so, a policeman had to be on point duty directing traffic.

The house belonged to a Mr AW White, the general manager of the Portsmouth Street Tramways Company. What a marvellous view over Portsmouth he must have had.

Where the car is parked to the right is now part of the pub’s beer garden.

• In the three photographs beneath we can see how busy Cosham was in days past.

First we see David Greig’s, provisioners. Who remembers buying ham off the bone there? Smith & Vosper was the well-known bakers.

In the second picture we can see High Street from the junction with Albert Road. On the left is Dewhurst, a nationwide chain of butchers.

And in the final picture we see how radically High Street has changed, like so many high streets across the UK.

Woolworth’s has long gone as has the lovely old George and Dragon pub with its bar billiards table, like so many other public houses in the country.

The former Odeon cinema (a ‘picture house’ in my time of course!) has closed and become a bingo hall.

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