I’d like to survey the opinion of Shop Local Southampton members as to the impact they think these changes have on proposed changes to the Portswood Scheme.
The original Portswood Scheme, as consulted upon by Southampton City Council, envisaged a permanent bus/taxi/bike/delivery-only zone between Westridge Road and the St Denys Road Junction, with a larger pedestrian dwell area, outdoor hospitality, seating, greenery, extra disabled parking and crossings.
Southampton City Council are now proposing to alter the Portswood Scheme to be part-time only (0700-1000 and 1600-1900), and for the bus gate to cover a smaller area (the area between St Denys Road and the St Denys Road Spur by Trago Lounge is proposed to be open to all traffic at all times).
We are well into the swing of 2023 with more than 100 events for you this week Southampton, from reggae to metal, soul to folk. What are you thinking of going to?
Lighter days are coming – The River Itchen at St Denys
==== WEDNESDAY 25 JANUARY ==== —- Live Music —- Public Body (art punk, Brighton) | Heartbreakers <20:00> www.facebook.com/events/1181573465898563 Support: Shtëpi (art rock, Guildford)
==== THURSDAY 26 JANUARY ==== —- Live Music —- DBS Soul Collective (neo soul, Southampton) | Ava’s, Oxford Street (new venue) <19:00> www.facebook.com/events/930264648341266
Live Jumbo Jam Night ft. Sam Flight, Plaque Panther & Issy Somers (singer-songwriter, Southampton) | O’Neill’s Southampton <16:00> www.facebook.com/events/3454609204861810
—- Live Music (Covers) —- The Pop Pickers (classic hits, Fareham) at Woolston Trades & Labour Club | Woolston & District Trades & Labour Club <15:00> www.facebook.com/events/838229724106045
—- Events —- CEP Workshop: What Can We Achieve Together for Children & Young People ? | John Hansard Gallery <16:00> www.facebook.com/events/568026284905483
In these economically difficult times, we have limited resources to spend. By choosing to spend our money locally this Christmas and into the New Year we keep our pounds within Southampton, support local people and ensure that our favourite local businesses are still there for us in better times.
With Christmas coming up, a small thoughtful present from a local business could mean so much to the makers / sellers, as well as to the receiver. We don’t need so spend lots of money to show lots of love.
International Foods You can also find loose bunches of coriander, parsley etc in much larger portions than the supermarket, without the packaging, and for a cheaper price. And you’re supporting a local business. Triple win!
International Foods and all independent Middle Eastern and Asian supermarkets also sell spices in much more useful sizes than the normal supermarket pots.
Easy Tz Meals Looking for great quality local ready-made meals? Look no further than Easy Tz Meals. Founded by Board in the City’s Tia during the lockdown, Easy Tz focusses on creating delicious, nutritious and affordable meals using surplus food wherever possible. Vegan and meat Christmas meals are still available for just £4.50 each, but be quick as orders need to be in by Monday 12 December. Weekly meals resume in the new year. For more information and to order, see Easy Tz Meals.
Southampton City Art Gallery What’s cheaper than cheap? Free, of course. And the council-run City Art Gallery is a jewel in our cultural crown that can be enjoyed entirely for free. If you haven’t been recently it’s worth a trip, as the exhibitions change regularly. Nearby John Hansard Gallery is also free.
If you wish to support the gallery, donations are accepted and there is a small shop of topical gifts. The gallery also hosts makers fairs from time to time.
Bitterne Park Stores Bitterne Park Stores is a a refillable package-free paradise, as well as stocking great local fresh bread, beer, grocery supplies and treats. On a budget, not many vegetables go further than a red cabbage – they can be used for coleslaw, as a side to a roast, and as a base for stews – I got 7 generous portions out of one cabbage! From the refillable food I really like the crystallised ginger and dates.
Refills are great value, with environmentally friendly washing liquid working out cheaper per ml than big brand washing liquids on offer in major supermarkets. I also enjoy the convenience of filling up a 5 litre container and not having to think about washing liquid for a long time.
Local Takeaways Takeaways don’t have to break the bank either, for example: – A delicious loaded falafel wrap from Shawarma Express in Portswood is just £5.95. – A pita with gyros souvlaki or halloumi from Sula’s is just £6.50 – Burritos at Mexigo start at £6.75 – A chicken or paneer tikka sizzler at 5 Rivers is £8.45 – A Margherita pizza at It’s a Pizza Thing is £8
Buy direct to avoid 1/3 commissions paid to the large companies either by them, you, or often both of you.
I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface here. It’s such an important time for to support each other, and choosing to go to a locally owned café or pub, or buying a ticket to a gig, can make all the difference right now. Things are so tight that such a decision is essentially a vote to keep them in business.
We are lucky in Southampton to have such a wealth and diversity of shopping, food, drink. Looking to the generosity of a lot of local businesses during Covid (not exactly a walk in the park for themselves) – for example the free meals Shelina from Lakaz Maman prepared for children during school holidays – shows that they’re a core part of our community.
Got any money saving tips that also help local business? Post on our Facebook or Twitter threads.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for supporting local this Christmas!
Nestled round the corner from Bedford Place on the newly pedestrianised Carlton Place you’ll find Cheshire Cat Clothing – a brand new bohemian / festival-esque clothing store, bringing colourful clothing to Southampton and adding to an increasingly alternative feel in the area.
In the back you’ll also find WitchLox’s studio, who specialise in dreadlocks, alternative hairdressing, extensions, dread beads, wigs, as well as maintenance of the above.
As you can see from the photo, the store is gorgeously laid out and well worth a visit for the aesthetics alone. Owl themed items seem especially popular and don’t last long on the shelves. Prices are more affordable than I guessed given the quality on offer. Cheshire Cat Clothing assures us that items are ethically sourced and a portion of profits is returned to assist NGOs carrying out philanthropic work in the countries of origin.
Isle of Wight Festival New Blood Competition Quarter-finals | The Joiners <19:15> www.facebook.com/events/598126014580820 ft. Rob Clamp (singer songwriter, South coast), Toerags (Southampton), Mondays At Gecko (indie rock, Southampton), Laura Dia (soul, Bristol), Siobhán & The Sunset Haze (folk rock, South Coast)
==== FRIDAY 04 MARCH ==== —- Live Music —- Cut Capers (jazzy hip hop, Bristol) & Still Moving DJs (live percussion & dinosaurs, Southampton) | The Brook <19:30> www.facebook.com/events/254241113433587
==== SATURDAY 05 MARCH ==== —- Live Music —- Titanic Survivors (mod rock, Southampton) | The Robin Hood, Sholing <21:00> www.facebook.com/events/372810190964786
Got a bit of a stormy week coming up, but that’s okay because there’s some excellent music, comedy and events happening around our city to keep us entertained. For this week’s cover photo, here’s a view over Southampton from last week – no matter what the weather throws at us this week brighter days are, quite literally, on their way! What are you most looking forward to? Enjoy, Southampton.
==== TUESDAY 15 FEBRUARY ==== —- Live Music —- Artfulscribe X Playlist: Recitations (musicians and poets) | MAST (Mayflower Studios) <19:30> ft. Bellatrix, Héloïse Werner, Colin Alexander, Issa Farrah & Antosh Wojcik www.facebook.com/events/275159164574715
Battle of the Bands | The Hobbit <19:30> ft. 17 bands inc Prion Son, Earthborn Kings, Sywren, Weird Uncles, Pot Kettle Black, Speaking of Witches www.facebook.com/events/1412095419244676
==== FRIDAY 18 FEBRUARY ==== —- Live Music —- Sweetchunks Band (Hampshirian-folk legends, Southampton) | Cricketers Bedford Place <20:00> www.facebook.com/events/509747317147235
<sold out> Stand Atlantic (pop punk, Sydney) + Lauran Hibberd (singer-songwriter, Isle of Wight) + The Dead Love | The Loft <19:00> www.facebook.com/events/586090612697204
==== MONDAY 21 FEBRUARY ==== —- Live Music —- Vince Kellett (singer/guitarist, Southampton) | Veg Out Community Vegan Cafe at October Books <12:30> www.facebook.com/events/478014760399546
The Sweetchunks Band, with Devil’s Prefects and Jolly Roger – The Hobbit
After careful consideration we decided to bring the listings back for the New Year because our venues are open, and need our support 💖. Please do what you can to be safe – get your booster and test regularly – and go out and support our lovely venues and great bands ^_^.
Music Student Performances | Turner Sims <13:00> Free opportunity to check out performances by University of Southampton Music Students www.facebook.com/events/1402863843504172
Whether you’re a long time vegan, going vegan for the month, or just wanting to try out the large range of vegan food on offer in January, Southampton has you covered. Local businesses have really pulled the stops out this year, so let’s all go out and support them, they need it after the year they’ve had!
Café Thrive should be the first call for anyone interested in vegan cooking, cakes and hot drinks in Southampton, and the offering is so strong that it should be on everyone’s radar. A 2-storey café overlooking the Central Parks, their Veganuary offerings include cronuts, an Italian tofu and roasted vegetable salad, a cherry bakewell hot chocolate, and this gorgeous ‘chicken’ burger. Their entire menu is always vegan, and their pumpkin spice latte is one of my favourite drinks in the city.
The Black Phoenix(Bedford Place) have a new and returning vegan special for every single week of January. The stars of the first week are the brand new Elvis (pictured) with peanut butter, caramelised bananas and bourbon infused cherry jam. This is paired with the returning ‘Monster’ burger with black garlic ‘mayo’, mushrooms and pickled onion crisps (yep). On Mondays you can also get 20% off all the new vegan dishes of the week. To top it off, their excellent vegan mozzarella sticks (rated by Chris as actually better than real mozzarella sticks) have returned for January.
For even more burger goodness, head to Lakaz Maman, home of Masterchef winner Shelina Permalloo’s Mauritian restaurant. They’ve just announced their latest burger for Veganuary – the Meaty Jack – a mountain of spicy battered jackfruit in a brioche bun.
Just a couple of doors down you’ll find Piecaramba, home to 4 vegan pies on their standard menu, vegan mash and mushy peas, additional vegetarian pies, and a Veganuary special ‘Spudnik’ featuring leek, mushroom and potato in a white sauce. This is truly pie heaven, and possibly the best pie shop in the country. Jay Rayner (Masterchef, The Guardian) reckons so.
Stakks is a pancake house on the upper level of Marlands shopping centre. A pancake house might not be the most obvious choice for vegan food, but Stakks have your Veganuary covered with a separate fully vegan menu featuring 9 delicious savoury and sweet vegan pancake stakks. All can be made gluten free on request.
Popsi’s, a gorgeous Bedford Place pizza restaurant (currently takeaway / delivery only) have gone the extra mile for Veganuary, creating 3 new vegan “meats” – bacon (pictured on the pizza below), chicken and peperoni. They’ve also created vegan garlic butter bites.
The Nest Coffee House on London Road has an almost unbelievable range of vegan pastries and doughnuts, and indeed I had no idea they were vegan until I saw the ‘#vegan’ hashtag with one of their posts. Even once I knew, I was still blown away with how delicious and creamy the doughnuts were. January’s doughnut lineup includes raspberry & white chocolate, boujee biscoff, brownie, and their gorgeous cinnamon rolls. Some of their doughnuts are pictured below. See you there?
Rice Up Wholefoodsis Southampton’s vegan supermarket on Hanover buildings, with a great deli of pastries etc to take away (I believe they can warm them for you on request). Sadly, Rice Up has been hit hard by recent events and they need our support – visiting and buying things is definitely one way, they’re also running a Crowdfunder if you’d like to support but can’t get down there.
Even traditional restaurants such as Ennioshave gotten in on the Veganuary action, how nice does their vegan take on Crespelle (stuffed pancakes) look?
Baboo Ji in Portswood is offering 15% off all vegan dishes on collection. And yep, everything in the image below – from the masala dosa to the Bombay potatoes, is vegan.
The fully vegan Art House are following the Covid situation closely and hoping to reopen for community café events next week, but for now they open for takeaway coffee, soup, drinks, snacks, and their community pantry, 1100 – 1500 every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
A post about Veganuary wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the Veg Out Community Vegan Café, which runs in the community space at the back of October Books (Portswood) every Monday with lunch served from 1215 and features live acoustic music. The café is run entirely by volunteers (indeed, they’re urgently looking for more to be able to continue opening!) and creates dishes from food donated by local businesses to avoid wastage. October Books are notable on their own merit for being a great independent book store and also stockists of a large range of vegan food products (many from Infinity Foods in Brighton), as well as cleaning products and cooking books.
Crossing over the river, Bitterne Park Stores re-opens on Tuesday 11th January and hosts a huge range of vegan alternative meats, cheeses, chocolates, beers and much more. You’ll also find that a surprising number of the pastries at Cottons Bakery next door are vegan.
For Sunday roasts there are always plenty of options – including Black Phoenix and The Alexandra. The photo below is of Belgium and Blues‘ offering, which does look mighty tasty (and I do like beer)…
Overdraft in Shirley have always got a tasty range of vegan options, tacos and nachos. They have announced a Veganuary special, tostadas filled with local purple sweet potatoes, homemade queso, chilli and avocado – sounds delicious.
The final shout out (at the moment, if I can’t resist adding others!) goes to Board in the City. Not a vegan eatery, but they have plenty of options for you to much on whilst playing board games, from a burger to pizza, pie, soya mince nachos, and truly fantastic chips.
Hope you have fun trying out the excellent culinary options Southampton has to offer, whether vegan or not. This isn’t a complete list of course, I’d love to hear your favourite local businesses and what they’re doing for Veganuary on our Facebook post.
A brand new Italian deli has opened in Bedford Place, offering a wide variety of Italian products including wine, biscuits, cakes, cheese, San Marzano tomatoes (widely accepted as the tomato to use in Italian cooking), a huge array of pastas, preserves, beer and spirits.
The staff are welcoming and happy to help you make an informed decision on which goodies to take home. It’s not as easy to travel to Italy in the current situation, but alongside some of our great Italian restaurants, Florio’s D’Italia is one of the best ways to transport yourself to the great flavours of the country whilst never leaving Southampton.
Inside the freezer you’ll find pistachio gelato, and even bread baked in Milan ready for you to take home and thaw. I can verify that the bread is delicious toasted.
Florio’s D’Italia, who also have a shop in Portsmouth, is open 6 days a week from 1000 – 1830.
As we enter the festive season there are some real treats in store for you Southampton. This week we can feast ourselves on the beautiful folk legends from Plymouth, Mad Dog Mcrea from the West of the South, and the intriguing art-folk sounds of Hannah Moule & The Moulettes from the East. Alestorm are here to drink our beer, Slade are determined to knock you out of the Noddy Game, and Up The Highstreet launch a daily Christmas cracker of local live lounge acts. Bridget Hart is returning home to launch her new book, a poetry queer retelling of Grease. There’s even a live version of A Question of Sport. Something for everyone and we love it.
Photo from last week: Junco Shakers, The Dolphin (St Denys)
==== TUESDAY 30 NOVEMBER ==== —- Live Music —- Alestorm, Gloryhammer and Bootyard Bandits | Southampton Guildhall <19:00> www.facebook.com/events/452446799328983
==== THURSDAY 02 DECEMBER ==== —- Live Music —- Gaslight Sessions | Platform Tavern <20:00> ft. Emily Mongan, Owen Hackett, Our Hero From Horse Country www.facebook.com/gaslightsessions
Live Music Showcase – In Memory of Bob Clark | The Art House <19:30> ft. Saire Herschel, Steve Lowis, Rob Clamp, The Real Raj www.facebook.com/events/230047672488086
==== SATURDAY 04 DECEMBER ==== —- Live Music —- Slade (if you’re playing The Noddy Game with The Asylum on Voice FM, you have been warned!) | Engine Rooms www.facebook.com/events/601915530449119
—- DJs and Club Nights —- Jungle Cakes | Engine Rooms <22:00> ft. Benny Page, Ed Solo, Deekline, Aries, Hannibal, Murky Dubz, MC Sye www.facebook.com/events/292251142624595
