One by one they are closing across Southampton and once favourite “locals” are fast disappearing and are being turned into flats and houses or convenience stores.

“Time” is being called on long established pubs, the last few pints are being poured, and an important part of the city’s social history are going forever.

Today’s closures reflect people’s changing habits and readily available, cheaper drinks in supermarkets while many of the older pubs in the city were swept away by enemy bombing during the Second World War and housing needs, which often meant the wholesale demolition of older properties and communities.

A recently published book is a timely reminder of just what Southampton was like when almost every corner could proudly boast of a public house complete with public bar, saloon and snug.

“Southampton’s Lost Pubs”, compiled by authors Dave Goddard and Jim Brown, is not only packed with hundreds of photographs of former pubs but also includes how the site has changed since these watering holes have closed.

Daily Echo:

From the Albany Hotel in Winn Road to The Woodman, which once stood at Lordswood Road, the authors have brought together fascinating images and facts which combine to produce an essential book for anyone interested in Southampton’s local history.

“This book is dedicated to the patrons of Southampton’s public houses, so many of which have now disappeared,” said the authors.

“They were an asset to social drinkers, who shared their time with friends and family in the congenial atmosphere of a pub.

“Let us hope that many of the current public houses will remain untouched by the ever spreading and relentless march of developers.”

Daily Echo:

Among the many pubs listed in the book is the Antelope Hotel, a former Cooper’s Brewery premises which stood on the corner of St Mary’s Road and Bellevue Street. Record show it as a fully licensed house on the 1878 Drink Map of Southampton.

The pub was closely associated with the Antelope Cricket Ground on the opposite side of St Mary’s Road and it was here that the Hampshire County Cricket Club was formed in 1863.

The Glasgow Hotel, once on the corner of Bernard Street and Orchard Place was once known as Pullinger’s Hotel in the early 1840s and later the Clarendon Hotel.

It was known as the Glasgow Restaurant and Oyster Grotto in 1925 when the licensee was J E Walker, a champion fencer, but the original building was destroyed in the wartime blitz and replaced by a temporary flat roofed structure.

The present building was constructed for the Watney Group in 1958 as The Glasgow and changed to Dixies in October, 1990 but subsequently closed and the premises are now occupied by a manufacturer.

Standing on the corner of Chantry Road and Andersons Road and owned by Barlow’s Victoria Brewery, the GUrney Arms had a beer licence prior to 1869 and was granted a full licence in March, 1961.

Its licence was suspended in July 1965 but before it was demolished, to make way for development of apartments, it was used as part of a film set for the MGM movie Stranger in the House staring James Mason.

• Southampton’s Lost Pubs by Dave Goddard and Jim Brown is published by DB Publishing and costs £12.50. Copies available from Dave Goddard on (023) 8073 7870.