Portland Road (2)

James Gray: These photographs [see also jgc_15_161 and 163 on the Boundary Road/Station Road page] show the marked changes in this area during the past 60 years. Aldrington Estate Office, Portland Road, at the corner of Worcester Villas, in 1907. jgc_15_162

2018: The old estate office building at No 430 Portland Road is now the Station Cafe and still has some of its original features intact. (Photographer: Steve Agace)

James Gray: The short lives of some modern buildings! When this photograph and jgc_16_046 and jgc_16_047 were taken on 9th September 1973, there was talk of many the buildings being cleared for a large redevelopment. In these photographs the eight houses to the left of the factory premises were built in 1923/3 and were originally called Rossiter Terrace. Then followed Stretton Hall, a Mission Room built in 1933, and then the six shops with the year 1934 in the centre gable.

James Gray: Another photograph similar to jg_16_048, which also gives a view of the 1934 shops, which had a short life of only 40 years or so. jgc_16_049

2018: See entry for jgc_16_048. (Photographer: Geoff James)

James Gray: This photograph shows, behind Stretton Hall, work commencing on the extensive building work resulting in the present SEEBOARD headquarters that cover this area, although the Hall still remains. jgc_16_050

2018: See entry for jgc_16_048. (Photographer: Geoff James)

James Gray: This complex of buildings owned by the Brighton Equitable Co-Operative Society Ltd. had a very modest start. In 1921 the society opened a bakery here, a small building erected on what was an empty field backing on the railway line as it approached Portslade Station. The present Olive Road did not exist, just a rough track leading to a farm accommodation bridge which was a relic of Aldrington Farm given up earlier in the century.

James Gray: This complex of buildings owned by the Brighton Equitable Co-Operative Society Ltd. had a very modest start. In 1921 the society opened a bakery here, a small building erected on what was an empty field backing on the railway line as it approached Portslade Station. The present Olive Road did not exist, just a rough track leading to a farm accommodation bridge which was a relic of Aldrington Farm given up earlier in the century.

James Gray: A Straker Squire bus loaned to the old Brighton, Hove and Preston Omnibus Company. It was used on the No.1 route – Portslade and Kemp Town, and is seen here outside Portslade station. The year is said to be 1911. jgc_16_063

2018: Buses from Portslade Station now travel eastwards, hence the bus is facing the opposite way from Gray’s image. The station windows are unchanged in style, but the canopy no longer exists. 

James Gray: This was just a small dairy farm about which not a great deal is known. It extended eastwards along Portland Road from Portslade Station for about 300/400 yards to just about where the entrance to Greens factory is now. Above the railway line it took in the meadow east of the track (now Olive Road) where the houses of Isabel Crescent are while to the west it extended as far as the present Margery Road.  Twenty cattle were kept in three stalls with grazing  land along the Portland Road frontage and a large number of chickens were kept.

James Gray: The farm worker, with his hay cart, is facing west into Portland Road, immediately in front of Portslade Station. Note the lamp posts (left) and station nameplate (right). Period sometime in the 1890s. A glimpse of the station house is seen on the extreme left. At this time, the west end of Portland Road was just a country track. jgc_16_070

James Gray: The short lives of some modern buildings! When these photographs were taken on 9th September 1973, there was talk of many of the buildings being cleared for a large redevelopment. In these photographs the eight houses to the left of the factory premises were built in 1923/3 and were originally called Rossiter Terrace. Then followed Stretton Hall, a Mission Room built in 1933, and then the six shops with the year 1934 in the centre gable. Now, in May 1976, all have been demolished, except for Stretton Hall, and it is said that when the large cleared site is built on, the development will go around the Hall, which will remain. We shall see!   jgc_16_046

James Gray: See caption for jgc_16_046 above. jgc_16_047