Old Bastakia

Jumeirah Beach Road 1968

Jumeirah Beach Road was a single lane tarmac road connecting the villages of Jumeirah and Umm Sequiem to Dubai. The road led nowhere coming to a dead end where Burj Al Arab is now located.

Changing Jumeirah

Jumeirah began changing in 1968 with the building of Port Rashid. There was insufficient housing in Dubai to accommodate the Contractor's Staff involved in Port Rashid. HH Shiekh Rashid insisted the Contractor build housing for his staff at the Contractor's cost. HHShiek Rashid provided land in Jumeirah for the housing and shrewdly insisted ownership of the houses revert to his ownership when Port Rashid was completed.

Jumeirah's Facilities

Jumeirah did have some facilities in 1968. Jumeirah Cinema was an open air Cinema showing Indian Films catering for the many sub Continent Workers housed nearby. There was also a Video Store, a Cafe and a small Supermarket. These were demolished to make way for a small shopping complex with a supermarket that subsequently became Spinney's Supermarket in Jumeirah.

Jumeirah Housing

Costain Housing was not the only housing on Jumeirah Beach Road. HH Shiekh Rashid also built two storeyed houses for Government Staff. These remained until the late 1990s before being demolished to make way for much grander houses and another shopping mall.

Living on Jumeirah Beach Road meant walking across the road to a safe and little used beach. The beach shelved slowly and was shallow for about 100 metres offshore. The various harbours built along the coastline changed the tidal currents and caused the beach line to be scoured away. Some parts of the beach became potentially dangerous to the unwary bathers.

......Jumeirah Beach Road used to be a much quieter place!!!!!

Today Jumeirah Beach Road is a main road drawing traffic off the Sheikh Zayed Highway together with all the problems of modern Dubai traffic.

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Sheikh Rashid