Now is not the time for fancy city centre plans

There was a fascinating picture in The News last week of Commercial Road. Unfortunately it was undated but it was taken before pedestrianisation in 1972. Portsmouth’s then main shopping street was caught at night illuminated by Christmas lights. It was almost deserted but the stores had not been closed for long as their lights were blazing into that winter’s night. What struck many was the impressive nature of the grand department stores which made dear old Commercial Road look more like London’s Regent Street.

There were Woolworth’s, Littlewoods, Marks & Spencer, John Collier, the list went on and we are sure older readers can still reel them off, in order.

Those we re the days when Commercial Road was a regional shopping h ub drawing people from miles around n ot just from within Portsea Island and its immediate hinterland.

The Tricorn ‘Casbah in the Sky’, as it was dubbed by some comedic marketing ‘expert’, had opened behind those department stores and the rebuilding of Portsmouth’s shopping heart after the destruction of the war seemed complete.

It was not long before the Tricorn’s allure faded and that pedestrianisation of Commercial Road tore the heart out of the road. Twenty years ago Gunwharf Quays opened and many predicted that would seal Commercial Road’s fate. It did not but what might well have done is Covid.

There have been so many plans to regenerate this area we have lost count and today’s story about Delancey pulling out of a deal with the council comes as no surprise. Who knows whether city centres will ever be viable again?

There will be too many draws on council cash once this crisis is over. Now is not the time to have fancy dreams about a new city centre. We will have other priorities and they should not revolve around shops.