Queen Street

Street guide, Portsea

Queen Street is the principal commercial thoroughfare of Portsea, running north to south through the centre of the district. It has served as the main shopping street since Portsea developed as a distinct town in the eighteenth century, when the growing population of dockyard workers and their families required local shops and services. During the Victorian era it was a bustling high street lined with independent retailers, public houses and small businesses. The street was devastated during the Blitz of January 1941 and lost most of its original buildings. Post-war reconstruction replaced the older fabric with a mixture of commercial premises, social housing and municipal buildings. Today Queen Street contains a variety of independent shops, convenience stores, takeaways and small businesses serving both the local residential community and the large student population from the nearby University of Portsmouth. The street connects The Hard at its southern end to Edinburgh Road at its northern end, making it the natural route through Portsea on foot.