When there are no pandemics or exorbitant policing costs to be met, Southsea – and by that I mean the more southern half of Portsea Island or Portsmouth; the half with a more mixed demographic age-wise and ethnicity-wise; the half with far more of interest in it; the half that doesn’t vote for the Tories – often gets together to put on small festivals centred on streets. Albert Road and Castle Road have both been the scenes of closed-off days with stalls set out and party atmospheres in some years, and Palmerston Road fairly regularly hosts food or market events. In 2016 we were walking back from the seafront when we happened upon the food festival taking place in Palmerston Road, Southsea, and with my camera at my hip – well, resting on my tummy – I snapped some shots as we walked up and down the length of the pedestrianised and temporarily pedestrianised areas looking at what was on offer. The weather was warm and bright and annoyingly sunny when facing south, but these photographs capture a little of the street festival atmosphere and are now presented without any further chit-chat from me.
