This film is part of Free

A Day Out in Portsmouth

Travel back to the Portsmouth of open markets, period shops, bomb sites, congested car parks, workers on bicycles and holiday crowds - all in glorious black & white

Amateur film 1958 15 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for Wessex Film and Sound Archive

Overview

F Howard's nostalgic film begins around Portsmouth's Commerical Road where an open market is packed with shoppers, traders and cars. Note some familiar high street names as well as the bombsites awaiting redevelopment. We then visit the Guildhall and later glimpse the submarine training tank at HMS Dolphin across the harbour. Then it's holiday time on Southsea Common where thousands of cars jostle for parking space while day trippers enjoy the equally packed beaches.