Pier Street

Street guide, Lee-on-the-Solent

Pier Street serves as the primary access point connecting Lee-on-the-Solent's town centre to the waterfront, acting as the traditional boundary between the commercial high street zone and the recreational seafront leisure area. The street runs directly towards the historic pier area and effectively divides the retail and service businesses of the town centre from the promenade-based attractions and visitor facilities. This strategic location has made Pier Street crucial to the town's infrastructure for over a century. Today, Pier Street provides essential parking facilities for waterfront visitors, with the Marine Parade car park at its terminus offering convenient access to both the promenade and the town's seafront restaurants and cafes. The street experiences regular bus traffic serving routes throughout Gosport and the surrounding area, with nearby bus stops providing essential public transport connectivity for residents without private vehicles. Historically, Pier Street was dramatically altered by the closure and subsequent demolition of the original Victorian pier in 1958, though the street's importance as a key thoroughfare remained undiminished. The Lee Tower complex, an Art Deco landmark built in 1935 and comprising a white V-shaped building with a distinctive 120-foot tower, once dominated this junction but was demolished in 1971, with the space now forming part of the promenade, remembrance gardens, and car parking area. The railway station that once served Lee-on-the-Solent was located in this vicinity, arriving in 1894 as part of a branch line from Fareham to Gosport, and its closure in 1966 marked a significant shift in how residents access the town. Today, Pier Street remains bustling with activity, particularly during summer months and weekends when visitors migrate between the shopping, dining, and leisure facilities. The street has a working, functional character rather than the quaint charm of the high street, but it is nonetheless essential to the town's economic and social functioning.