Just off Old Christchurch Road in the middle of Bournemouth town centre, Horseshoe Common is the sort of place that's simple to miss but easy to appreciate once spotted, a curved strip of open green space encircled by the road that lends it its name. Unlike the grandeur of the nearby Lower Gardens, it fills a quieter, more practical role: a stretch of grass and open air set among the town centre's shops, bars and restaurants.
A Victorian shape
The common's distinctive shape is no accident. Dean Park Road wraps around it in a horseshoe, part of the earliest street plan drawn up for the young resort town by Christopher Crabb Creeke, Bournemouth's first surveyor. The park itself dates from the 1870s, making Horseshoe Common one of the older pieces of green infrastructure in the town centre, predating much of the development that has since grown up around it.
A public realm reborn
The area was known for years as a traffic-heavy cut-through, hemmed in by alcohol-led nightlife venues. Bournemouth Borough Council changed that in 2012-13, reworking the space under its Three Towns Travel programme using a masterplan from urban design consultancy Feria Urbanism. New seating, street furniture and a flexible event space resulted, aimed directly at turning the common into somewhere to linger rather than simply cross, and at attracting the kind of daytime, food-led businesses that have since opened nearby, Turtle Bay on its edge among them.
Visiting
No admission charge or fixed opening hours apply, Horseshoe Common stays open access day and night, like any public common. It offers a convenient, restful stop when walking between the Square and the shops of Old Christchurch Road, and it's one of several green spaces scattered through the town centre. Find more of them, and everything else on offer, in our guide to things to do in Bournemouth.