Shore Road, East Wittering, Chichester 1959

Old colour photo along Shore Road in East Wittering in 1959, looking across the car park of the Shore Inn, which still trades today. The foreground is filled with an evocative mix of post-war transport, reflecting the growing popularity of seaside motoring during the late 1950s.

Parked vehicles include scooters, motorcycles and sidecars alongside a red Heinkel Kabine bubble car, a compact microcar emblematic of the austerity-to-affluence transition of the period. Larger saloons and touring motorcycles suggest day-trippers and holidaymakers arriving from across Sussex and beyond.

Across the road stands the former Shore Road restaurant, since radically rebuilt. Despite the modern alterations, elements of the original structure can still be traced, and the site now trades as Samphire, offering a clear example of how East Wittering’s seafront buildings have evolved while retaining echoes of their mid-century past.