HERE is the heart of Southampton pictured from the air in September 1949 as seen by the hundreds who fly over the port every week.

At the time few towns in Britain could boast a more imposing group of municipal buildings than those comprising the Civic Centre, the focal point of this Echo aerial photographic.

Still, fewer have their homes of local government in such a lovely setting as that formed by the Parks on the north and east side.

To the right of the Civic Centre you can see a stretch of Above Bar and, near its junction with London-road, majestically set among the trees, is the Cenotaph.

At the northern end of London-road can be seen the tree-lined Avenue, an imposing entrance to the town for the traveller from London.

Buildings which can be easily identified are the Empire Theatre, in the lower left corner; the Polygon Hotel, immediately to the north; the Royal Hotel, with its white balconies, in Cumberland-place; and, on the opposite side of the picture the Forum ‘Cinema, at the junction of Above Bar and Civic Centre-road and, almost opposite, the lost since disappeared Grand Theatre facing the Civic Centre garden.

We have also added more historic aerial images of Southampton - not all are from 1949, however - to the gallery at the top of this article.