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Chapter 15
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Brockhurst Road
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As a continuation of Forton Road, Brockhurst Road was and still
is part of the main road from Fareham to the Gosport Ferry. Early in the 20th century it was still rather countrified, made up mostly of little cottages and villas. There were then no side roads such as Eastbourne, Chantry, Kingsley, Teignmouth or Norfolk. Tradesmen used horses and carts for transport. The horses and carts were usually kept at the back of the shop. Sometimes a former stable has been turned into a garage or extra living space.A
cobbled entrance at the side of Mr. Knight’s furniture shop shows where horses and conveyances once passed by the side of the big houses to go to the back where horses and cabs were housed.
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Mr. George Joseph Hunt was a coal merchant and grocer. His
grocer’s shop was on the corner of Hartington Road and Brockhurst Road. He kept his horses on a piece of land on the other side of Hartington Road. The cart and coal store was behind
the shop. He had a brick yard in Cambridge Road. Until recently the shop was still a grocery run by the Hunt family (his grandchildren) and by Mr. Newman who married Mr. G.J. Hunt’s
granddaughter.
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On the corner opposite Hunt’s a dance hall was built about 1926.
It was called Cambridge Hall, (and was owned by the Molloy family). Molloy’s newsagent’s shop was next door to the dance hall. A wood and tin building at the back was used for
billiards with 5 tables. For some years nothing but fields occupied the space between Molloy’s shop and Handley
Road. Mr. Hatfield, a builder, lived in the house on the corner of Handley Road.
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The Molloy family had previously had a newsagent’s shop in Forton
Road. There was a dance hall built by Mr. Johnson, on the corner of Reed’s Place, which is now the Spiritualist Hall. Molloy’s former shop was next to the dance hall. (Boyne
Hall). Butt’s newsagent’s was only a short distance away and the daughters of the respective newsagent’s competed for custom. Bob Molloy (junior) played the saxophone. He played
in Harry Barnard’s Band which was well known in Gosport. Alec Barnard played the drums. Mabel Ridout (Later Mrs. Rowe) played the piano. Bob Molloy played in other bands in
Portsmouth as well. Bob Molloy and his wife, together with his sister, Vera, followed in the family business of Newsagent.
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Vera’s brother-in-law, Mr. Hawkins, had a garage built, with a house
attached, which later became Daniell’s, the ironmonger’s, and is now the Hire-a-Tool shop. Mr. Hawkins ran coaches and for a short time, ran a bus service from the Ferry to
Fareham. Petrol was sold at the garage.
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The Brick yard on the opposite side of Brockhurst Road was previously
Stapleton’s yard, and before that, belonged to Mr. Johnson. Goodenough’s dairy was next door to Johnson’s yard (on the corner of Mill Road).
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Later, Mr. Rogers had a grocery shop on the corner of Montgomery Road.
Mr. Roger’s cheese was properly matured and cut and weighed when the customer wanted it. His cooked ham was cooked by Mr. Rogers, “in the joint” and carved from the bone in the
shop.
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Pink’s grocery shop was on the corner of Harding Road. Marsh’s,
the bakery shop, later became Stapleton’s, a Builder’s Merchant’s shop, which is now the site of Hadleigh’s Antiques and Collectables and Glass and Windows and Timber sales.
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There was a pub on the corner of Avery Lane and Brockhurst Road. Next to
it, Mr. Shepherd had a shop. He sold groceries, sweets and milk from his own cows. The cows were taken from the back of the shop to graze in a field in the place where Netherton Road is now.
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Ryve’s Farm spread from Cambridge Road by the side of the Railway Line,
across the Grange Estate. The cottages of Nightingale Terrace, with the corner shop which was also an off-licence, bordered the farm on one side. Groom’s Rose Nursery was next to the
farm and extended to one side of what is now Grange Crescent – the even-numbered side. Downer’s Farm was situated on the side of Anns Hill Road, nearest to the Middlecroft. The house
which was the farmhouse is still opposite the lower part of the railway bridge, number 108 Anns Hill Road.
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Houses in Clifton Street were farm cottages.
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Fields stretched from Cambridge Road to Privett Road with House’s farm
at the end of Privett Road. This made a country walk to Stokes Bay.
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