In October 2009 the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust completed the acquisition of Priddy’s Hard, the former Royal Navy ordnance depot, and the Explosion! Museum of Naval Firepower from Gosport Borough Council.
The Trust was offered the site by the MOD in 1988 before it was sold to Gosport, and has been a long-term advocate of uniting historic sites on the Portsmouth and Gosport sides of the harbour so that their history can be celebrated as a single story.
It now proposes to introduce a summer waterbus service linking Portsmouth Historic Dockyard to Priddy’s Hard, the Royal Navy Submarine Museum and Gunwharf Quays. Tickets to the Gosport attractions will be sold in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and at Gunwharf Quays.
It is hoped that by saving Explosion! from closure the Trust can realise its ambition of uniting the two sides of the harbour as a single visitor destination, as originally intended by the Renaissance of Portsmouth Harbour scheme.