IT IS usually thought by locals and historians that Queen’s Road dates back to the opening of Brighton Station in 1840.

The road leads directly to and from the railway station from North Street and West Street.

The London and Brighton Railway Company contributed £2,000 to the cost of building the road.

Improvements made included the bridge over Trafalgar Street.

At the southern end, several notorious slums off North Street, notably Durham and Petty France, were cleared before the new road was laid out northwards over part of Air Street, near Queen’s Square and between Windsor Terrace and the Hanover Chapel.

The road was soon turned into a busy community of businesses, with shops, pubs and hotels filling the street.

A large arch also appeared on the road to welcome Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lorne, who were attending the opening of the new School of Science.

Queen’s Road was widened in 1878 to accommodate more traffic.

A number of large warehouses were also built.

Queen’s Road was a centre for the medical profession in the later 19th century, and was at one time the location of the Brighton and Hove Dispensary, the Brighton, Hove and Preston Provident Dispensary, the Brighton, Hove and Preston Dental Hospital, the Sussex Eye Hospital and a throat and ear hospital.

The sites between Church Street and North Road are now occupied by large office buildings which were constructed throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

At the southern end of this block was Oddfellows Hall, built by John Fabian.

It was used as a meeting hall. After the war it was used by the Ministry of Labour before being demolished in August 1969.

Named after Queen Adelaide, Queen’s Square was built in the early 1850s and in 1856 a new Baptist chapel opened there.

The congregation eventually moved to Gloucester Place and the chapel closed in 1948.