Westgate is now a desirable place to live but this has not always been the case.
When it first started to form as a suburb outside the West Gate on the road to Fishbourne, St Bartholomew’s was a poor industrial area. The Fishbourne road developed into the main road along the coast to the west, known as the Portsmouth Road; and in 1762 the road became the Chichester to Cosham turnpike, which meant that it was a toll road and better maintained.
WGRA is born
Traffic levels increased and in 1938 the Chichester bypass was opened to enable traffic, to avoid Westgate and the narrow city streets. In 1955 the Henty & Constable brewery closed. In the 1970s the large site was still vacant, and plans were put forward to develop this as a commercial site. The Westgate Residents Association (WGRA) was formed to oppose this and support a plan for housing, Westgate by now being a popular residential road. The Association were successful, and ‘Henty Gardens’ and ‘The Maltings’ (now The Grange) are the result. It is interesting that, despite the bypass, there were still considerable complaints at that time about the level and type of traffic using the road. However, having achieved their primary objective, the WGRA lost momentum and closed.
Second iteration
About 10 years later, Tesco submitted plans to build a large supermarket between Westgate and the bypass. This caused concern that the traffic levels would increase enormously and the WGRA was revived. Again, the campaign was successful and a “Westgate Relief Road “(now called Via Ravenna) was built. Thanks to a vigorous campaign by the then Chair, traffic calming measures were introduced on Westgate to reduce the number and speed of vehicles. Once again, after the campaign was over, interest waned and the association ceased to function.
Third iteration
The current life of the WGRA started in 2014 with the threat of the building of 1600 houses on the land of Whitehouse Farm. Immediately south of the Parklands Estate, a Southern Access Road was proposed, opening directly onto Westgate. This obviously raised the threat of more traffic on the road past the houses, some of whom it must be remembered do not have modern foundations.
Colin Hicks and I were prime movers with some other concerned residents in resuscitating the residents’ association. Colin built a website and in 2015 started publishing a series of articles about the history of Westgate. These were very interesting and a great deal of work. With the closure of the Association website, we became concerned that this body of work could be lost – and this new website is the result.
I had further information about Westgate, as I know do other residents. I felt that it would be helpful to collect as much as possible of this together and save it in a format where it is more likely to survive and be available to all residents – as well as for any persons thinking of moving into the street and seeking information to help their decision. A book – ‘The Westgate Story‘ – has been the result, which is now lodged with the County Records Office.
We are now in the process of transferring some of these new elements to this website.
Richard Brownfield, June 2025