It’s always fun trawling through eBay for local vintage items, you never know quite what you’ll discover, such as this vintage glass Victorian tape measure. Southsea has a really strong fashion and craft scene and I imagine this item would find a welcome home very easily (although it is £85!).

“Some time in the Spring of 1831, a Mr William Wink began business as a `laceman` in Queen Street, near the Portsea Docks. The enterprise must have prospered for, when he died in 1857, Sarah Wink, we presume his widow, continued to trade at 112 Queen Street as a `lace manufacturer, milliner and dressmaker`. By 1865 the shop had been taken over by Frederick Wink and was described as `Wink & Co., Silk Mercers and Ladies` Outfitters The business was acquired by the John Lewis Partnership, who continued to trade from the same premises, despite being hit by a bomb in 1940”.