Portsmouth’s teeming thoroughfare is the city’s main shopping precinct and is now home to many of the UK’s biggest retail brands.
While the retail sector is unrecognisable from decades ago, Commercial Road has always been the hustle and bustle of the city centre in Portsmouth – as shown by these rare photos below.
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We’ve had a look back through the archives to find some of our favourite photos from 1906 to the 1960s.
1. Commercial Road
Classic cinema in Commercial Road, opposite Arundel Street junction and the lowering a 10-inch main pipe by Portsmouth Water Company in the foreground. Photo: The News archive
2. Commercial Road
Crossing Commercial Road at the junction with Edinburgh Road, but where are the girls parents? Photo: The News archive
3. Commercial Road junction
A wonderful photograph of pre-war Commercial Road, Portsmouth, at its junction with Charlotte Street. A policeman directs traffic. Photo: The News archive
4. Commercial Road
Flooding outside the goods sheds in Commercial Road. The boy’s face in the centre says it all. Flooding in Commercial Road taken from inside the gates of the railway goods shed. Photo: The News archive