THIS WEEK IN 1971: Southsea man escaped falling bathroom floor
Clarence Martin went for a bath at his Southsea council house '“ and nearly fell through the floor.
If he had not held on to the side of the bath he would have fallen through the floor, which was rotten.
Underneath the ground floor bathroom at Esslemont Road was a large hole covered on all sides by a layer of thick white fungus and green slime, pictured.
The bottom of the pit Mr Martin could have fallen into was covered with water.
Mr Martin’s wife Annie, 57, told The News: ‘When we moved in nearly three years ago we noticed the floor seemed to sag in places – but we were amazed to find we had been walking on a bit of rotten hardboard over that pit.
‘My husband could have easily been injured if he had not managed to grip the bath.’