Seaview Road and Brighton Mall in the suburb of New Brighton, Christchurch

Seaview Rd and Brighton Mall in New Brighton – Sea View Road was formed in 1890 and first appears in street directories in 1911. It was the road into New Brighton when leaving New Brighton Road and went directly towards the sea. In 1887, the New Brighton Tramway Company put its bridge over the river from what is now Pages Road and into Seaview Road. Listed as Seaview Road in street directories from 1914. However in New Brighton, Canterbury’s Playground, published in 1923, both versions of the name (Sea View and Seaview) are used. [In 1918 the New Brighton Borough Council considered changing the name to Anzac Street but this was never done.]A reasonable amount of information from the library website about Seaview Rd. I have included Brighton Mall as it used to be part of Seaview Rd. I couldn’t find out when it was named Brighton Mall. In 1899 channelling of the street was discussed plus drainage issues. In 1920s and 1930s there seemed to be a lot of car accidents on this street. In 1931 a cyclist riding fast at night without lights knocked down the local police Inspector F Blewitt. In 1925 the property belonging to the late G Hawker was for sale. In 1929 there was a lot of discussion about the new bridge over the Avon. In 1920s and 1930s there seemed to be lots of burglaries and fires in private houses and businesses. A chemist shop and a draper shop plus the Premier Picture Theatre were amongst the businesses either had a fire or was burgled. I found it slightly amusing that a business called Self Help Co-op Grocery Co was broken into. The businesses in this street heavily promoted Saturday shopping and I used to enjoy going to Brighton on Saturdays. This was obviously before shops elsewhere opened in the weekends. I did like the letter to the paper in December 1935 from Patricia McCarthy to Santa Claus. She gave very precise directions to how to get to her house at 149 Seaview Rd plus there would be a thermos flask of tea for him. The area was also promoted as an area for seaside holidays and most ads were about a house called Oriental House. There was a good letter to the editor dated 14th June 1924 headed Father of Brighton. The businesses all seemed to be in the area which is now Brighton Mall. The Mall has lots of shops but sadly many of them are closed. There are a few houses at the other end of the street near the river but several now house businesses. A couple of houses from 1890 and 1910 but most date in the 1970s.The New Brighton Police Station is on this street plus Grace Vineyard Church. The New Brighton School used to have an entrance on this street and the school took up the block from Seaview St to Hawke St. I walked this street at least three weeks ago after a visit to Burwood Hospital. I believe that there is a weekend market in the Mall area.