Back then, Millbrook was quaint and it was rare to see anything other than bicycles, horse-drawn carts and, on the odd occasion, a motor vehicle.

It was where dealers bought and sold horses and ponies. Rumour had it that unsuspecting customers could easily end up with an animal that would make a beeline towards every public house in town, regardless of whether they wanted it to or not.

The tide used to come up to the “steam railway’’ line, which ran along a pebbly shore on which it was possible to walk from Millbrook to the West Station, now Southampton’s Central Station.

On Millbrook pavements, youngsters would often be having fun. The boys spun iron hoops while the girls used wooden ones. But others would play marbles in the middle of the roads - something that would be unthinkable today!

In the 1930s, taking the path along Millbrook Road to Totton was an entirely different experience than today.

Daily Echo: Millbrook village in 1905.

Millbrook Road was once home to a vast stretch of open land, on which members of the Territorial Army practised their drills. This area has since been turned into houses and British American Tobacco factory, later becoming the home of Costco.

Further west was an old coaching station, the Royal Mail public house, and stalls for steeds transporting mail. In addition, a newsagent’s store and two cottages neighbored a stream previously used to define the boundaries of the borough.

Back towards Southampton, the old Millbrook Pond once stood at the spot which is now the site of the present-day Millbrook roundabout.

Daily Echo: The Swan pub and pond in Millbrook.

Around 50 years ago, John Knight, a one-time local resident, who was born and brought up in the area, told the Daily Echo: “When I was a child, Millbrook was a lovely place with plenty of open fields where people could enjoy the countryside.

“The present-day generation will have nothing to look back on as all the characters have gone and they are pulling down better houses than they are building.’’