New Church Road

This part of Hove is mostly long, wide, tree-lined roads with large houses and big gardens. There are also bungalows and terrace houses, giving a good mix of properties and prices. It includes some of Hove’s most prestigious roads and stretches from Hove Street in the east to Boundary Road in the west, Portland Road to the north and Kingsway to the south.

Properties date mainly from the Thirties but there are some built in the 1890s. Prices range from £150,000 to more than £1 million.

A few of the larger villas at the eastern end of New Church Road have been replaced with flats but the area has not lost its feeling of spaciousness. As a more modern town than its neighbour, Brighton, Hove had the advantage of being able to plan its streets in accordance with modern living rather than having them develop in a haphazard way. This meant wide, straight roads, which have made the New Church Road area such a popular place to live.

Places of interest
It is home to St Christopher’s School, the Nuffield Hospital and the Park View Leisure Centre in St Helliers Avenue. One of the most outstanding buildings is Hove Museum and Art Gallery, which is housed in a Victorian villa, built during the 1870s for John Oliver Vallance. The architect, Thomas Lainson, designed the house in an Italianate style made popular by Queen Victoria’s Isle of Wight residence, Osborne House. John Oliver died in 1893 but his widow continued to live in the villa until 1913. During the First World War, it housed German prisoners of war and in 1923 it was converted into flats. In 1926, it was bought by Hove Corporation for £4,000 for use as a museum.

The popular seafront walk from King Alfred Leisure Centre to Hove Lagoon is now included in the council’s healthwalk route. Hove Lagoon is home to a windsurfing school and the beach is one of the best for surfing in Sussex.

Schools
Somerhill Junior, Somerhill Road. 01273 739659
Davigdor Infants, Somerhill Road. 01273 731397
BHASVIC Sixth Form College, Dyke Road. 01273 859816
Blatchington Mill School, Nevill Avenue. 01273 736244
Cardinal Newman Catholic School, The Upper Drive. 01273 558551
Cottesmore St Mary’s RC Primary School, The Upper Drive. 01273 555811
West Hove Infant School, Portland Road. 01273 733386
West Hove Junior School, Portland Road. 01273 388800