See the Rolling Stones at Portsmouth Guildhall for just 33 pence! NOSTALGIA

There was a time when it did not cost a fortune to see the top stars at the Guildhall, even compared like-for-like 50 years later.
Happy days in the mid-1960s when all the stars appeared at the Guildhall and for just 33p in modern money. Ticket: Pete Cross collection.Happy days in the mid-1960s when all the stars appeared at the Guildhall and for just 33p in modern money. Ticket: Pete Cross collection.
Happy days in the mid-1960s when all the stars appeared at the Guildhall and for just 33p in modern money. Ticket: Pete Cross collection.

It can now cost hundreds of pounds to attend a Rolling Stones concert, I have been told. Imagine paying 33p, above.

Back then two one-hit wonders were top of the bill over the ‘Stones.

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John Leyton sang Johnny, Remember Me. And Mike Sarne sang Come Outside with the late Wendy Richard – Pauline Fowler in EastEnders. She spoke the part of the girl he wanted to take outside.

With a packed carousel and boat swings we see people enjoying the Bank Holiday funfair on Portsdown Hill in teh 1920s. Photo: Barry Cox postcard collectionWith a packed carousel and boat swings we see people enjoying the Bank Holiday funfair on Portsdown Hill in teh 1920s. Photo: Barry Cox postcard collection
With a packed carousel and boat swings we see people enjoying the Bank Holiday funfair on Portsdown Hill in teh 1920s. Photo: Barry Cox postcard collection

After these hits the singers were little heard of although Leyton did later appear in the war film The Great Escape. The Rolling Stones went on to international fame and three of the original line up, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts are still there.

I wonder if there is anyone surviving who can remember the days of the funfair when it was held on Portsdown Hill, below?

I believe it was on the left of London Road going up the hill.

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There used to be a tunnel passing under the Portsdown & Horndean Light Railway tram lines to access the fair. This was later replaced by a flight of steps which are still in situ.

Here we see the Hog's Lodge pub on the corner of Petersfield Lane and Hog's Lodge Lane in the 1920s. Photo: Barry Cox postcard collection.Here we see the Hog's Lodge pub on the corner of Petersfield Lane and Hog's Lodge Lane in the 1920s. Photo: Barry Cox postcard collection.
Here we see the Hog's Lodge pub on the corner of Petersfield Lane and Hog's Lodge Lane in the 1920s. Photo: Barry Cox postcard collection.

I know there are people who preserve funfair equipment and I wonder if the carousel on the right has been saved for posterity?

Last week I published the black and white photograph, below, of the Hog’s Lodge, close to Butser Hill, and suggested it was in Petersfield Lane with the London Road crossing left to right. Almost there.

In fact the pub was on the next corner along. It was Petersfield Lane that was crossing from left to right. I can thank Ralph Pook for this information and the scene today, below.

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Ralph told me: ‘The pub has long since been demolished and replaced by a house called Greenacres. This stands somewhat behind where the pub would have been.

Looking up Hog's Lodge Lane from Petersfield Lane today. The pub would have been on the left.Looking up Hog's Lodge Lane from Petersfield Lane today. The pub would have been on the left.
Looking up Hog's Lodge Lane from Petersfield Lane today. The pub would have been on the left.

‘The pub entrance directly behind the people in your original picture opened into the bar which was a small wood panelled room with bench seats round the walls. The beer was dispensed through a hatch in the wall. There was a quoit board on the wall just inside the door. My family was bombed out of Portsmouth during the war and evacuated to a corrugated iron building which stood approximately where Greenacres stands today.

‘My aunt and uncle looked after me as my father was in the navy and my mother had TB. At one time she convalesced in Pen-Y-Bryn, which is the second house up Hog’s Lodge Lane. It was a bungalow as I remember it, not the mansion it is today.

‘After the war my uncle had a car and we often took trips out to Hog’s Lodge to catch up with people he knew there and have a pint or two.’

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