Victoria Street, founded in 1836 and serving as the town's main thoroughfare, is the commercial hub with shops, pubs and restaurants, along with banking and post office services flanking both sides of the street. The town hall is an impressive building and the museum presents pictures of the island with dramatic presentation of its military history; the town and the island having earned the epithet "Gibraltar of the Channel" during wartime. France is seen from here, as it is only away from the island. The "Alderney Journal", the locally produced newspaper, has an office on Ollivier Street.