Southampton, is it a shit hole?

[DrDonnyBrago]

Sooooo....

Further to my Leicester thread, another possible, what is Southampton like?

Lived in Plymouth, was nice, expensive, coastal and too many soldiers, Southampton similar?

[dodsi]

It's a cunting fuck hole.

And they add fluoride to the water, this still doesn't keep the locals off Jeremy Kyle.

[ws4936]

[DrDonnyBrago]

Sounds lovely

[Tungtvann]

There are some nice areas.

[swampy]

[dabigginger]

I've lived in Southampton for around 3 1/2 years now and I'm happy here. Like anywhere, there are nice areas and crap ones. As far as cities go, it's not the prettiest of places with a lot of buildings in the centre from the 50's 60's and 70's. The city centre has all the usual shops you'd expect - nothing that really makes it stand out from the crowd, but there's everything you need.

As for areas in the city, I don't know the place inside and out, but Chandlers Ford and Hiltingbury are nice. Hedge End is supposed to be good as well as some other areas I can't think of right now... Don't even bother with Chilworth unless you're planning on buying a mansion in the millions.

Shirley and Milbrook have reputations of being a bit of a dive. I've driven through there a few times and whilst they're hardly Beverly Hills, I've seen far worse places.

I like the nightlife. The suburbs have all their usual local pubs and the city centre has two main areas. Bedford Place caters for a lot of commercial music and Beavois Valley has a lot of rock/metal/alternative clubs. Both areas are busy on any given night, week days and weekends when the uni is in term. I've hardly ever seen any trouble.

Going further afield, there's plenty of other towns within an hours drive - Winchester, Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Salisbury, Basingstoke etc. and London is just over an hour away. I hope that helps

[Jersum]

I was born and raised in Southampton (In Harefield) for about 10ish years, when I went back a year or two ago, and I really didn't like it and was happy to come to Devon.

[yampug]

portsmouth side of southampton is a shit hole romsey, rownhams chilworth side of southamton is nice luckily there's a big river down the middle keeping all the scum over the other side, shame some one stuck a bridge over it.

places to avoid thornhill, harefield, hedge end, weston.

[Robster]

Its a dump. Come to Bournemouth instead, much nicer

[mentalboy]

[DrDonnyBrago]

Cheers chums, as I said, just a possibility.

Will ask for more "specific" info should circumstances change .

[garth]

[BTTD]

Southampton doesn't have a seafront, it does have huge cargo docks full of shipping containers and industrial buildings. It's also quite a spread out city when compared to Portsmouth, which is a 3 mile by 4 mile island (at a guess). Southsea has a large seafront common thanks to military orders in the early 19 century, so it was never developed - nice in the summer.

I used to work in Southampton and never thought that much of it, certainly not enough to want to move there. Guy I worked with was a Southampton local (they're affectionately known as Scummers) and would often tell me how shit Portsmouth was until he came over one summer afternoon for a few beers in Old Portsmouth and along the common. He then remarked that Southampton didn't have anywhere as nice.
At the age of 30 he'd never actually been around the next nearest city, every visit had consisted of getting off the train at Fratton Bridge and walking the half mile up the road to Fratton Park football ground.

[haroman666]

I went to Southampton for roughly 1 hour to go to a camera shop for my friend. I did not enjoy the time spent there. Place looked fairly run down. There was shut-down shopping centres EVERYWHERE!

Portsmouth was superior.
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[GhostRider]

Ringwood is only a 30 minute jolly through the New Forest away, much nicer and quieter to live, plus bournemouth is equidistant for when the sun comes out that one time of the year.

GhostRider
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I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don't know why. My nightly bloodlust has overflown into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.

[Minty]

[dabigginger]

Lol, am I the only person who likes the place?! Bargate Shopping centre closed down a few years ago and Eastgate shopping Centre looks like it was a fair bit longer than that. Thankfully, Eastgate shopping centre is being taken down and I've heard rumors that the same will happen to Bargate. The two main ones are West Quay and the Marlands. I haven't been into Marlands much, but it does look quite new. West Quay is the most popular one though with all the usual High Street shops.

Anyway, enough about shops - I generally only go when the missus needs someone to help carry all the stuff she buys...

The best thing I can suggest to anyone who is wondering what a place is like to live in is rent a place for 6 months - if you don't like it, move on. If you do, great! Renew your lease or buy somewhere. I suppose when most people move to a new town, it's all exciting as it's new. After a year or two, it just becomes another place really. Every town has its good areas and it's dives. Some places will obviouslly have more good areas than others.

[Tungtvann]

I've been to the West Quay shopping centre and thought it was quite modern with a good selection of shops and also been to the cinema. I did drive from Salisbury though which hasn't got very good of either of those.

Haven't been out on the piss, nor ventured out to any of the estates so I only have a select view of the place.

[yampug]

it's got an ikea so you can buy loads of shit furniture that won't last very long for your new place.

[Clanger]

I lived in Southampton for two years, I lived in Maybush area (near Lordshill), where I lived was okay. My car never got vandalised or anything, but my bike lived elsewhere. Shirley High Street is excellent for a huge variety of food shops, including a massive Asian supermarket.

The only downside to living in Southampton for me, personally was the constant noise from the docks...living up on the hillside there, plus light pollution, its never bloody dark...

I have friends who live near Bitterne and they like it, they have bikes and I've parked there many times and never had an issue.

It has some nice areas around it (close by too) such as Botley, Hedge End, Fareham, Wickham, Romsey (expensive), and the New Forest is on the doorstep.

It's not as bad as some big cities, not at all, it does have a student population and a lot of dodgy inner city areas. There are certainly areas I would avoid living and leaving my vehicles.

Also got a lot of good live music venues, such as The Joiners and The Brook. City centre is good for shopping (if that's your bag).
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[Ja7]

I can see all you haters live in Buckingham palace by the way your going on !!!
Seriously every city in the uk has a good or bad place.....

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[-Matt-]

I did uni placements there and work there very occasionally - if its anything other than a short-term move i'd be tempted to look a little further a field. Its a bit of a dive generally IMO.

Its a 30-45 minute commute but Bournemouth isn't all that far away and you have a beach and nice area on your doorstep and traffic isn't that bad even in rush hour with the road links there.

[swampy]