Then and Now

ALTHOUGH the street scene this side of the Thistle Park Tavern has changed dramatically, on the south side of the tracks everything (apart from the new restaurant/shop and apartment block) looks much the same. Remarkably, in an economic climate that has seen so many pubs close, all three in this stretch of Commercial Road are still trading – the Thistle, the Eagle and a contender for Plymouth's smallest pub and self-styled cosiest … the Fareham. Still a significant commercial area, the nature of the commerce here has changed out of all recognition: the coal yards to the west, beyond the GWR Goods Depot, have been replaced by the new Fish Market, the National Marine Aquarium, a new pub – Lockyer's Quay and a hotel, while the site of the erstwhile Coxside Gasworks is now largely taken up by the Vue entertainment complex. The long-gone railway line here was initially laid down for the horse-drawn Dartmoor railway back in the 1820s.