Bridge St in New Brighton – Named after Admiral Sir Cyprian Arthur George Bridge GCB (1839- 1924). Bridge was a British Royal Navy officer. This name continues the theme of naming streets in New Brighton after British Admirals, explorers and fighting seafarers. First mentioned in The Press in 1911. First appears in street directories in 1919. [The street was formed long before the South Brighton bridge was opened in 1927.] Information supplied by Bob Pritchard, subdivisions officer, Christchurch City Council.
A small amount of information from the library website and Bridge St seems to be the boundary between New Brighton and South Brighton.
There were thousands of entries on Papers Past as there were so many Bridge Streets in New Zealand. I tried narrowing it down to four local newspapers but again there were too many entries so I limited myself to using various combinations of Brighton or New Brighton or South Brighton. There were several entries between 1924 and 1927 about the building of a bridge and in October 1927 there was the official opening of the bridge. In 1977 and 1978 there were several entries about a new bridge to replace the old one. The council wanted it to include a footpath and cycleway but the Roads Board were against this. Several entries about a church hall on the corner of Estuary Road and Bridge Street as early as 1930s and as late as 2007. It is still there but no longer a cross on the building and it is called The Bridge. There was also a cafe here but it didn’t seem to be open when I walked past on Monday. I googled and it seems to be fairly new. In the 1960s there was a business called Randall Motors and in the 1980s it was called Norm Bedford Motors. It is now a petrol station. Between 1912 and 1935 there were frequently sections available with eleven sections available in 1920. Many of the early houses were baches ( holiday homes) and this was true for much of New Brighton in the early days. I n 1975 there were 29 elderly persons housing units planned for Bridge St. The council wanted one of the units to be reserved as a holiday home but this request was refused. There were 700 people on the waiting list for a pensioner cottage.
Several entries for a Gasson family who lived on this street and they had a son killed in WWI. The father Herbert Arundel Gasson died in 1931 after hitting a train at Washdyke. The inquest mentioned that he was driving at high speed and that he ignored the train whistles warning him of a train coming.
Several scrub fires which was a common theme in the Brighton area. The Bridge Street Reserve had a few mentions and it used to be a plantation. This explains my memory of trees and I had a look at street view and in 2007 there were still trees but the street view from 2012 shows a complete slaughter of the trees. I hate trees being cut down. My map says that it is now called Bridge Reserve.
A general store was for sale in 1946 after the death of the owner. I remember a shop being here but it is now an empty section called Common Ground. I checked street view and there was a cafe here in 2012 but by 2019 it had been demolished.
The Beachcomber Motels were brand new in 1967 and the buildings are still there but look dreadful. Apparently people are still living here under the name of an organisation called a community housing trust. Several birth and death notices and I even found my father’s death notice. He only lived here for a couple of years before dying at a fairly young age. He was in a back flat and there was another ex-Lyttelton person living in the house in front of the flats. I can’t remember her name but have a feeling that she was a distant relative. It was a long time ago.
There is such a variety of houses and buildings on this street and the oldest house from the 1920s hasn’t been well maintained. Most houses are from between 1960s and 1970s with another big group built in 2014 and 2015. I did have a good look at the empty section called Common Ground but they had two book fridges so of course I stopped. The street starts at Marine Parade and finishes at the roundabout at Breezes Rd, Dyers Rd and Anzac Drive. I hadn’t realised that Anzac Drive started at this roundabout. I actually finished my walk at the Bridge Reserve as I didn’t feel safe walking across the bridge. I possibly would have been OK but the traffic seemed to go fairly fast here.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 