Cosham Shopping Centre

Cosham is a northern suburb of Portsmouth lying within the city boundary, just off Portsea Island. It retains a traditional high street element, containing amongst other things a Post Office, bakers, greengrocers, florists, newsagents and cobblers shops. The centre has a diverse mix of some 200 businesses, with a large proportion based in retail, although specialist service providers have additionally moved into the High Street over recent years, adding to its wealth and diversity as an established secondary shopping centre.      

Supporting a wide catchment area, the centre is fed by a railway station and bus interchange, with the majority of buses entering Portsea Island passing through the centre. Additionally it has good road links, with access into the centre from Portsea Island, Fareham, Paulsgrove, Purbrook, Farlington and Havant.

The Cosham Business Association (CBA) was formed in 2006 and is made up of a range of businesses covering the length and breadth of Cosham Town Centre. With committee members elected from along the length of the High Street and pedestrian precinct, Northern Road and Spur Road, it covers the full geographic area of the shopping centre, ensuring that equal representation is heard for all businesses and stakeholders.

It’s aim is to unify all the businesses of Cosham, to reflect their needs, concerns and interests; and to look for the short, medium and long-term cumulative goals of the businesses, the community and the area as a whole.

One of the main goals of the CBA is to work with the police and stakeholder groups in the area to tackle the perceived fear of crime in Cosham and to identify ways of building upon its already strong community spirit and encourage new visitors to come and rediscover what lies on their doorstep. 

Cosham has a lot to offer and the CBA are proud in spreading the word of what working, living and shopping is really like. Anyone interested in joining the association or finding out about how they can help should contact Colin Walker (District Centres Co-ordinator) on 07939 142075 or email business@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

The Business Watch scheme was started in early 2007 for businesses in the Drayton and Farlington areas including the railway triangle, Fitzherbert road and Fitzherbert spur to combat thefts from industrial areas of metals and fuels and also walk-in thefts from staff personal property. The aim of this was to provide the numerous businesses in the area an e-mail link system to the Police and also to each other to notify of any suspicious activity from persons or vehicles and have that information circulated quickly to other businesses to alert staff.

The scheme started with about 20 businesses on board and has grown to now over 80 premises. There have been several arrests made via Business Watch whereby businesses have been alerted via this scheme. The scheme is now expected to be expanded across the whole Cosham sector. It is free of charge to join and there are no subscriptions involved. 

Please note this is not a crime reporting service and must be only used as an information relaying method. All crimes should be reported via the normal channels.

For more information about Business Watch Scheme, please email jason.gore@hampshire.pnn.police.uk or call 0845 045 45 45.