please empty your brain below
I'm glad Wyndham Court got a mention. When I saw it, one - just one - resident has a window box with red geraniums in. I expect someone soon put a stop to that!

Sarah | Homepage | 28.04.22 - 7:42 a.m. | #

Soton has the unusual phenomenon of "double tides" which is of benefit to ships entering and leaving (and if I remember from Geography at school - 60 years ago - a reason for its maritime presence)

Rob Gullen | 28.04.22 - 7:45 a.m. | #

While Portsmouth is indeed better for visiting Southampton is far better for living with a far better choice of restaurants, bars, shops, culture and access to the rest of the country.

Southampton has been shortlisted for City of Culture 2025.

David | 28.04.22 - 8:42 a.m. | #

I spent 3 years at Southampton in my university days 50 years ago. My it has changed, as I found when I ventured back in 2011 for a reunion. Got another weekend trip planned for later this year. Thanks for the preview.

davews | 28.04.22 - 8:42 a.m. | #

Portsmouth might have more culture and a bit of proper seaside at Southsea but the city centre is a hole and a wasteland at night - Southampton at night is lively and feels a lot safer

Bus Nerd | 28.04.22 - 9:25 a.m. | #

The Hythe ferry was part of my childhood in the 1960s - my grandparents moved from North London to the wilds of the New Forest and when visiting we used to ride the Hythe ferry across to Southampton, with views of the great liners. The papers used to publish a list of liner movements so you knew which ones were in port. I remember Hotspur IV in service - and the rows of mothballed Short Sunderlands and Sandringhams on the Hythe side of Southampton Water.

Shame you didn't visit the little train!

Steve | 28.04.22 - 9:30 a.m. | #

I do like the look of the Civic Centre. Is it just coincidence that there were two electric-blue Jaguars parked outside or was it some kind of promotion?

Jonathan Wadman | 28.04.22 - 9:51 a.m. | #

You had a very different day to the one I had fairly recently. Having read about the Titanic I had a pleasant day looking at all the Titanic memorials and sites. There was (is?) an excellent walking guide. At the town hall there is a book of remembrance on view that has a new page every day.

Colin Whiting | 28.04.22 - 9:58 a.m. | #

Is this reviewer a closet skate?

Trevor Wilkins | 28.04.22 - 10:03 a.m. | #

Just visible on your Redjet photo, on the horizon to the left, are some of the core towers to the National Oceanography Centre, a fascinating place and home to Boaty McBoatFace (Autosub). I worked on the Centre's design and construction for 9 years in the 1990s. It's accessible via Dock Gate 4, but I don't know whether members of the public can still book a visit. Well worth a try if you visit Southampton again. I can see you're keen.

Wendy | 28.04.22 - 10:20 a.m. | #

I've lived in Southampton all my life and I grudgingly have to agree with your judgement as a tourist.
However, I have to thank you for doing the research on Will Rosie. I've seen many of the mosaics around the city and just thought "I wonder what they're about?", but never taken the trouble to find out.

Michael Churchill | 28.04.22 - 10:39 a.m. | #

Thanks for visiting my home city. A little underwhelmed were you?! I’ve resisted the temptation to comment further or correct a couple of minor errors. But you picked some good places to review.

Stephen | 28.04.22 - 10:50 a.m. | #

Portsmouth is not better, don't blaspheme.

Peewee | 28.04.22 - 10:52 a.m. | #

Southampton is a very practical city. It has everything you'd need and want in a city. Just that it's not pretty in any way (Since the 40s at least).
The only waterfront area to promenade in are Mayflower Park (though closed for a month in peak summer so yachties can have a little hurrah) and Weston Shore on the other side of the Itchen Bridge.

The common and Riverside Park are rather nice though.

Dan | 28.04.22 - 10:58 a.m. | #

A very fair summary of an essentially dreary place! The old-town area of Bugle Street does have some interest, however, not only for the working gas-light shown on the left of one of your photos, but also for the Duke of Wellington pub, dating from some six centuries before the rise to fame of the eponymous warrior. I witnessed the Itchen Bridge slowly being completed in the 1970s and was amongst those allowed to cross it on foot in 1977 before traffic started thundering across. It was interesting, though poignant, to see from above the two doomed chain-ferries plying across the river...

cau1khead | 28.04.22 - 11:20 a.m. | #

I spent 6 months trying to teach in a school in Soton.
Its a shit 'ole.

SAM | 28.04.22 - 12:02 p.m. | #

The best thing about Southampton is the summertime open top bus to Swanage.

Anybody know what a closet skate is? It's a new expression to me.

coffin dodger | 28.04.22 - 2:30 p.m. | #

I visited Southampton some 30+ years ago for a match at The Dell, which from memory was some way distant from any water.

Based upon your reportage, I may visit for the civic/culture offering, but won't be staying for the shopping.

Frank F | 28.04.22 - 2:40 p.m. | #

a Skate is a person from Pompey (the inverse of a Scummer, who is from Soton).

Peewee | 28.04.22 - 2:55 p.m. | #

My home town. The joke used to be that the only good thing to come out of Southampton was the M27.

When I was in the school choir back in the 1970s, we used to sing May Day carols each year on top of the Bargate on 1st May at 6am in the morning. The only people listening were the parents that had to get up ridiculously early to take us there.

Stephen | 28.04.22 - 2:56 p.m. | #

There used to be a nice bar on Town Quay from where you could watch the ships and the Isle of Wight & Hythe ferries coming and going. I loved sitting outside it on a nice day but sadly it's long since gone.

Cruise ships also visit the main docks right next to Mayflower Park. It means you can get quite close to them and appreciate how tall some of them are.

I lived just outside Southampton for two years and personally I thought it felt a lot nicer than Portsmouth but that it wasn't living up to its potential, especially on the heritage and waterfront side.

Anders | 28.04.22 - 3:00 p.m. | #

This video (12 Ships Mosaic Walking Tour - 400 Year Anniversary of Mayflower Departing for the New World) might give another angle on historical Southampton.

Kevin Too | 28.04.22 - 3:01 p.m. | #

The large Mayflower theatre Southhampton, which was once the Gaumont Cinema, and seats over 2000 people is a Grade II listed building

John | 28.04.22 - 4:26 p.m. | #

I've only been to Southampton a couple of times but I have to concur with your assessment that Porstmouth is better. While I will admit that P'mouth is far from perfect, Soton just feels bland by comparison.

X-Plaistow | 28.04.22 - 4:32 p.m. | #

My daughter went to Solent University in Southampton. The house she shared with other students in her second and third years was built on the site of the old Southampton football ground, The Dell. Thought the new stadium looked good on the other side of town and enjoyed the historic buildings.

Tones | 28.04.22 - 6:09 p.m. | #

Did everybody leave just before you arrived? Looks like a ghost town!

dg writes: no.

James Webber | 28.04.22 - 6:44 p.m. | #

I spent a happy year living and working in Southampton in the late naughties, and have to say that I rather liked the place. Admittedly I probably didn’t stray too far from the centre, but enjoyed the Common, virtually on my doorstep, and also seeing the cruise ships from Mayflower Park - though I wished there was a way to see the docs upp close. Being able to pop across to Cowes in under half an hour was also quite a bonus.

Somehow though, in all that time, I didn’t realise that much of the area of flat land to the south of the station was reclaimed. So I have learnt something today.

Robert | 28.04.22 - 7:27 p.m. | #

coffin dodger - the bus to Swanage is from Bournemouth not Southampton.

Ian | 28.04.22 - 7:37 p.m. | #

I thought it was Southampton from your description the other day. Another Southampton Alumna here, I spent New Year's Eve 1999 watching fireworks over the docks. I loved the city - compact, green and close to the New Forest. The University is pretty excellent too.

Lucy | 29.04.22 - 9:38 a.m. | #

I'm not aware that the two "s" words refer to anything beyond sporting allegiances. The one referring to Portsmouth supporters is particularly offensive, by the way...

cau1khead | 29.04.22 - 10:04 a.m. | #

I'm surprised at "longest surviving stretch of medieval walls in England," when places like York and Chester appear to have much more of their walls than Southampton.
Can you explain?

Old Red Funnel Fan | 30.04.22 - 10:41 p.m. | #

Southampton is also the birthplace of the architectural critic Owen Hatherley, author of many interesting books, and a trenchant critic of the damage done by cars, austerity, new labour and out of town shopping centres to so many of our cities and towns.

Colin | 02.05.22 - 12:31 p.m. | #

Re-reading the Southampton entry. You mentioned that the Hythe ferry and its "ickle pierhead train" would have to wait.
As I write, you have about 34 hours left to remedy this omission.

timbo | 30.12.22 - 7:24 a.m. | #

timbo - Perhaps he has longer.

Stephen H | 30.12.22 - 11:34 p.m. | #

That is good news indeed.
I went for a ride yesterday anyway.

timbo | 31.12.22 - 9:54 a.m. | #

Looks as if you hit most of the spots, for a review, but perhaps tried too hard. S’ton is probably the most urban place south of London, and it’s immediate suburbs are worth exploring. Yes, I’m a Pompey fan too. I’d like to see them run as single conurbation, with proper public transport links, but retaining all that lovely “Howard’s Way” coastline between. It was discussed extending the Portsmouth to Fareham light rail to S’ton over the Itchen Bridge, but apparently Aircraft Carriers trump public transport. Definitely, worth more than a half day. With Pompey, Winchester, and the New Forest thrown in easily worth a week of even the most international of travellers.

Mike Jones | 14.01.23 - 11:06 a.m. | #











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