Flashback: History of Churchill Way tunnel in Basingstoke

The 500-foot-long dual carriageway was built on the line of the old Brook Street, which was demolished for town development in the mid-1960s.

The section of Brook Street which lies under the tunnel had several buildings of interest, but let us line up the road on an Ordnance Survey map of 1960 in comparison with the one today.

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The tunnel (Image: Rob Newman)

The north side of Brook Street, under the tunnel, began with the Rose Inn, on the corner of Chapel Street, which was a 17th-century public house.

Next to it was a one-storey building used as an office for a chartered accountant, and then came the largest building on that side of the road, Brook House, which was once a residence until 1908, when it was converted into a high school for girls.

In 1912, the school was moved to larger premises in Crossborough Hill, where it is now called Costello Technology College.

Next to the school grounds was the Railway Arms, another public house which dated back to the 17th century as a residence, before its conversion to an inn in about 1840.

The buildings that existed on the south side of Brook Street, between Church Street and Lower Wote Street, began with the corner shop of Mr E C Fisher, who had a furniture removal business and furnishers, which Mr E G Mears previously owned. 

Next came the playground of Church Street C of E Primary, St John’s School, which was built in 1901 for 130 girls and boys and 230 infants. It was originally the site of Water de Merton’s Hospice in the 13th century, then Merton Farm, and later a Sunday school.

When the St John’s School closed in July 1967, the children were moved to other schools, then a new school was built in Kingsmill Road under the same name.

Back to Brook Street, and we now come to two hairdressing salons, the first being for ladies, owned by Joan Lewis.

When she had to move it was to a modern unit at Clapham House in the shopping centre, near Church Street. Later, it fell into the ownership of Colin Lewis and Julie Crue. Another salon was opened up at Soper Grove on the South View estate.

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Brook Street looking west from Wote Street, showing the Railway Arms (Image: Contributed)

When they received the compulsory purchase order to move out, they moved to 35 Essex Road in September 1966. The two brothers continued to serve their regulars for a few more years.

Between the hairdressing salons and the next building, which was the fire station, there was a wide entrance to the rear of the station which countless people used to visit The Savoy Cinema.

Next to the cinema was the Loddon Lodge, nicknamed “The Crooked House”, as the foundations had been undermined by the River Loddon.

The river became a problem for the Town Development Plan, but a conduit pipe was laid in October 1967, across the lower part of the town, to allow the water to be fed into the Eastrop area and down to Old Basing.

The fire station was built in 1913 at a cost of £1,000 and opened in November that year. The station was closed down, and transferred to new larger premises at West Ham, in August 1966.

The last of the Brook Street buildings, near Wote Street, was the garage of Fred Smith’s business, which extended up Station Hill and into Junction Road. It began as an agricultural engineering firm in 1880 and, over the years, expanded into other branches. The business moved to North Waltham in July 1967.

On the corner of Wote Street with Brook Street, there was another public house, the Barge Inn, and in the yard, Stowell’s taxis would be waiting to take people wherever they wanted to go.

But all this changed when the demolition of the area took place. By March 1969, the Churchill Way tunnel was being built, and all the buildings that stood on that site are now a distant memory.

This article was written by Robert Brown and first published on Friday, August 27, 2004