IF YOU were to have visited the shops in Queensway in 1962, things would have been far different to what they are today.

Patrons may now take a stroll along the parade to pick up a costume or practical joke set from Hollywood, while diners may plan to grab sustenance from the highly revered kebab house Sauce.

In 1962, the new £110,000 shopping district - £2.3m in today’s money - sprung up in the shadow of the mammoth Edwin Jones department store, now Debenhams.

The Queensway Service station could give your car a service-while-you-shop - provided Hugh Cocker, who ran the station, had been given a day’s notice. Mr Cocker, the director of Atlantic Garages, also sold boats and outboard motors on the station.

Those with magpie qualities would have been attracted to the sparkle and shine of Freeman Jewellers - a father and son operation which carried out more than 3,000 repair jobs a year.

Inside the shop was a 200-year-old grandfather clock. The pair had brought with them from their former premises in New Road.

A few doors down was The Sewing Machine Service shop, run by Mr A Pelham and Mr T Hatton. The shop featured a number of 50-year-old sewing machines among the ultra modern surroundings.

Their service included repairs, sales, reconditioning and part exchange.

Mr Albert Elliott and his wife Muriel travelled 6,000 miles from Calgary, Canada, to open up Elliott’s Camera Craft, Ltd.

“When we got back to England in November, 1960, we decided, after looking round the town, that we would live in Southampton

“I ran a photographic business in Canada. We can provide a comprehensive photographic service for the town,” said Mr Elliott.

Jim Thomas saved for 18 years to open Jim’s burger and fish and chips shop. He worked as a chef at Mullard’s Southampton, and as a cook on Queen Mary, the Caronia and Mauretania.

His wife Claudia helped to serve up the delicious burgers, scotch eggs and fish and chips, which could either have been eaten on the premises or taken away.