SOUTHAMPTON’S old power station was quite literally an eyesore.

Not only did it stand brooding over the city’s skyline but local people also complained bitterly about clouds of pollution that escaped from its chimneys.

Billowing smoke from the power station at one time blighted Southampton and a trip into “town’’ more often than not meant an unpleasant eyeful of grit.

This problem, which prompted many letters to the Daily Echo, was largely cured in 1951 when a special grit collecting plant was installed at the power station that reduced the pollution by 90 per cent.

The old power station, that once stood on the present Toys-R-Us site at Western Esplanade, was without doubt a landmark and for decades was the first thing passengers saw when they arrived by train at the Central Station opposite.

Its contribution to the National Grid ended in 1972 with the arrival of the Fawley power station but the building remained, gradually being demolished over the following few years with its towering chimneys taken down in 1975.

On July 20, 1903 the foundation stone was laid for the new power station to replace a previous plant that had stood at the Back-of-the-Walls since the 1890s.

Nearly four acres of mudlands on the estuary of the River Test at Western Esplanade were considered ideal for the power station as there was ample room for expansion, it was near the centre of demand for electricity, had an abundant supply of sea water for condensing purposes and facilities to bring in coal by sea and train were close by.

For its day it was a huge project and it was considered one of the most advanced in the UK.

It was also about this time that homeowners started wanting electric cookers, water heaters and boilers for washing clothes so the Electricity Showrooms were opened in Above Bar in 1911.

By the end of the First World War demand for electricity had increased and so the power station was forced to expand.

During the Second World War it was hit by enemy bombing including the destruction of a total of 19,000 square feet of glass in the generating plant’s roofs and windows as well damage to the transmission and distribution systems.

The 50th anniversary of generating electricity in Southampton was marked in 1946 when the Minister of Fuel and Power, Emmanuel Shinwell, visited the power station.