B2153

The B2153 is a complicated former road classification in Portsmouth.

Where is the B2153?

The first complication arises from the 1923 MoT map. This labels Lake Road as the B2153. However, given that that road is described in the 1922 Road Lists as B2152, which is the number it is known as today, this is probably a misprint.

However, the route of the B2153 mentioned in the 1923 Road Lists - Portsmouth (Carlisle Road, Raglan Street and Greetham Street) - is not shown on the same map (a parallel route is shown as a B-road but is not given a number). Later maps, such as the one on the right, do put a B-road where the 1922 lists would have us believe one to be.

The former B2153 Raglan Street

Assuming that the 1922 Road Lists are correct, the B2153 started on the B2151 Victoria Road North. It ran west, parallel to the railway line, along Carlisle Road, Raglan Street and Greetham Street. It met the A3 Commercial Road by the station where it ended.

Found at last!

One factor in favour of believing the 1922 Road Lists is the B3034. This road started on the A3 just to the south of the western end of Greetham Street and headed west into the naval area of town along Park Road, ending on the B2154. This road was definitely renumbered B2153 in 1935 and so it seems far more likely, therefore, that Lake Road was not in fact the B2153 and that Greetham Street was. At some point the B2153 was also extended eastwards, as the same map (left) shows the B2153 number applied to Goldsmith Avenue, now part of the A2030 stretching out to meet the A288 at Milton.

Either way, road upgrades and renumberings in central Portsmouth have rendered the B2153 number redundant. Carlisle Road has been severed by the building of the A2030 Holbrook Road. The B2153/A3 junction has been altered beyond recognition by the building of the civic centre. Park Road has been severed by the new A3 Anglesea Road. The fact that the whole of the original B2153 is now unclassified is not surprising.