I believe that the lampstands in the middle of the road supported the cables for the trams. The trolleybus lines were supported by posts on each side of the road.  That would probably date this picture to pre-trolley buses which was before 1939.

As my memory serves me, off the picture on the left would be Ditchling Road School where I attended the junior department.  Down a little bit on the left side of Upper Hollingdean Road was a little sweet shop where we could buy something for 1/4d.  Off the picture to the right was the dust destructor. I was very happy at Ditchling Road School. Miss Renno was the head mistress while I was there. This would have been 1938-1940.

Ron James is right - these are tram cables as trolley buses always used two cables (for positive and negative) per direction.

I recognise this picture because I too attended Ditchling Road School as a London evacuee from September 1939 to July 1940, being cared for by the Thorpe family at Semley Road. They had a bookshop somewhere in town.

I lived on the left side of the road all of my childhood from 1965 to 1979.  It has changed much from when the photo was taken from my ealy memory of it. Has anyone got more photos of this area I loved this place

Does anyone know the name of the hotel that was replaced by the new school in Ditchling Road or have any info about it?

I'm getting more confused. I also used to go to the school just off the picture to the left and, so did my Father but it was always called The Downs. Is this one and the same as the Ditchling Road School? We used to call the corner building shown "The Pepperpot" (there was also one in Elm Grove) and the shop underneath was a fish and chip shop in the late 50s/early 60s with a bag of chips, wrapped in newspaper costing 3d (1.5p).

You can see my old house in this picture! On the left you can just see the end of the brick and flint wall that surrounded (still surrounds?) the school. It was certainly known as 'The Downs' in the late 50's and throughout the 60's. The shop immediately underneath the Pepperpot was an opticians in the late 50's and early 60's and was then a 'mini-market'. The shop underneath was a newsagents - 'Pearsons' was the name I think. The fish and chip shop was a little further down Upper Hollingdean Road. On the right is another brick and flint wall that surrounded what we called the 'dust destructor'. It had a huge chimney. I remember it coming down in the early 60's. Two tower blocks were built on the site.

Does anyone know if there are any old pictures that actually show the dust destructor chimney?
I recall a former partner in Field and Cox telling me that when it was nearly finished, the brickies refused to go up because of the wind. He went up a showed them that it was perfectly safe to work and reluctantly they eventually joined him. Once they were all working, he decended and immediately went behind the site hut to be violently sick.