About PompeypunksaBOut poMpeYPunKs

Why this exists

if yoU WerE tHeRE, you need to be here.if you were there, you need to be here.

if you weren't, we want you to see what it was like to be us.

the people, the bands, the clothes, the gigs, the stories . . . in amongst the chaos we looked out for each other and even now we're a large subcultural group.

this is portsmouth's early punk scene, told by the people who made it . . . the site is a living history of the scene and a tribute to the people who helped create it and to those who are no longer with us.

in the '80s we were referred to as 'alternative', as many of the genres flocked together, that is why you will see many different types of subculture on this site, psychobilly, rockabilly, goth, surf punk etc, as we all went to the same places together.

in 2007, before social media, pompeypunks.co.uk brought us together online, we all contributed to it, then it was destroyed . . . ransomed by a greedy american company . . . it lived on through the pompeypunks facebook page, which now has over 1,000 followers . . . the page was updated regularly and this site now holds all its posts, photos and videos, archived and curated so they're easier to find.

a lot has happened over the years and the information is scattered all over the internet . . . the aim of this site is to bring as much of it together as possible, to create a vibrant historical archive that makes the most of the technology we have today, some exciting projects are in the planning stages.

the site and our social media have been a passion project by helen goss, but she couldn't have done it without the whole community's willingness to tell the story and generously share their footage and photos . . . we're so grateful for that and their continuing support makes this project a pleasure to be involved in . . . we hope you love looking at what we got up to and still get up to today.

in 2027 our online presence reaches its 20-year anniversary so it's time for the return of the pompeypunks site . . . we own our content (it's now on a private server, not just moonshot data centres) and are the custodians of this archive, we're happy to share it with anyone who'd like to use it, we just ask that anything used is properly credited . . . if you'd like to use something for a project, or want to get involved in some way, please ask through the contact page . . . we've happily been involved and given our time to many projects over the years.

there's a lot planned for the 20th anniversary, we'll announce things on the blog of this site (you can subscribe with the rss feed) and on the facebook page, we will announce any future platforms when we feel it's time to be involved with them.

we hope you get to feel what it was like to be part of this exciting DIY counterculture . . . life has always been richer for being a part of it.

privacy & consent

who runs this site. pompeypunks is run by helen goss, who has looked after it since 2007 and runs the pompeypunks facebook page. to get in touch, message the facebook page, or use the contact page. messages sent through the contact page are emailed to helen, used only to reply to you, and kept no longer than needed to deal with them.

no cookies, tracking or advertising. this site doesn't set cookies, doesn't use analytics services or tracking tools, and doesn't show adverts. it doesn't load anything from other websites. the share buttons are plain links: nothing is sent anywhere unless you click one, and then that service's own rules apply.

one small exception: if you use the accessibility button (top right) to change the text size or colours, your choice is remembered in your own browser so you don't have to set it again on every page. that is not a cookie, it never leaves your device, and we can't see it. you can clear it any time with "reset to normal".

what our host keeps. the site is hosted by dreamhost. like most hosts, they keep standard server logs, including visitors' ip addresses, for security. we don't use those logs to follow what anyone does on the site.

counting visits. each night we count how many people visited the day before, using our host's server logs. we keep only the daily totals - never ip addresses or anything that could identify you - and nothing is added to the pages you see. the totals are on a private page that only helen can open.

photos and stories. everything is shared with care and credited to the person who gave it. the current photo albums come from the pompeypunks facebook page, where they were posted by or on behalf of the people credited (with their previous consent). each of these is marked "from the facebook page". albums added later from other places will say where they came from. if people remember the same night differently, we keep both versions, each credited to the person who told it. nothing personal goes public without permission.

changing or removing something. if a photo or story is about you, or you're in it, and you'd like it changed, credited differently or taken down, just tell us - on the facebook page or through the contact page - and we'll do it. you don't need to give a reason.