Portsmouth's foaming fountain in honour of the silver Queen

Believe it or not we go back 39 years for the two pictures here.
By The Newsroom
Published 9th Sep 2016, 06:00 BST
Updated 12th Sep 2016, 17:01 BST
FOAM The Commercial Road, Portsmouth, fountain under construction in 1977. Picture: Chris Brunnen cjbphotography.co.ukFOAM The Commercial Road, Portsmouth, fountain under construction in 1977. Picture: Chris Brunnen cjbphotography.co.uk
FOAM The Commercial Road, Portsmouth, fountain under construction in 1977. Picture: Chris Brunnen cjbphotography.co.uk

It was 1977, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee year, and the fountain in Commercial Road marking those 25 years was under construction.

Photographer Chris Brunnen, who was at art college at the time, took the pictures showing three newspaper sellers . He’s now posted them on the Do You Remember...In Portsmouth Facebook page.

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According to posters on that site, the seller of The News was Bill Grief and as you can see the main news of the day was: ‘Injured worker gets £1,000 from city council.’

NOTHING CHANGES: Two men selling the Socialist Worker in Commercial Road, Portsmouth, in 1977 carrying the headline: Save our hospitals! Picture: Chris Brunnen cjbphotography.co.ukNOTHING CHANGES: Two men selling the Socialist Worker in Commercial Road, Portsmouth, in 1977 carrying the headline: Save our hospitals! Picture: Chris Brunnen cjbphotography.co.uk
NOTHING CHANGES: Two men selling the Socialist Worker in Commercial Road, Portsmouth, in 1977 carrying the headline: Save our hospitals! Picture: Chris Brunnen cjbphotography.co.uk

But it is the fountain which attracted most comment with readers recalling the times it was filled with washing up liquid with the resulting foam cascading out of the fountain into Commercial Road and Arundel Steet.

Chris’s second picture was taken a few yards away in Commercial Road and shows two men selling the Socialist Worker.

Who remembers Paige’s dress shop in the background?

Related topics:PortsmouthQueenFacebook