Southampton City Centre has certainly seen changes over the last decade, not least the transformation of Guildhall Square from a car park to a square full of culture and events.
This is about to be accelerated with plans for improved pedestrian, cycle, public transport, recreational and visitor experiences, whilst simultaneously improving the flow of traffic outside a greener city centre.
The plans will open up a new city park at Albion Place by the historic town and castle walls, create better flow between the Central Parks by reducing motor traffic on cross-park routes, and radically improve the sense of place in front of the Civic Centre. Some of the works are due to begin this year, with the majority completing in 2022.
At the same time plans are being made to erect a new statue of Sikh pilot Hardit Singh Malik, dedicated to memory of members of the city’s ethnic communities who lost their lives in wartime. It is expected that the statue, by West Midlands sculptor Luke Perry, will be erected outside the Sea City Museum in 2023.
For more information on the City Centre Transformation and to provide feedback in the consultation (ends 19 March) please see the Southampton City Council website.
One of the more confusing myths I hear of Southampton is that it’s a coastal city without a beach. Not only are we surrounded by great beach destinations favoured by tourists, but luckily it doesn’t take much exploring to dispel. A quick walk over the Itchen Bridge, a cup of Mettricks coffee in hand, and you’ll be at Woolston Beach (we’re not in Weston yet) by Southampton Sailing Club in no time. There’s a nice green walking space above the beach, but the beach itself seems to be oft-forgotten, and is worth stepping down to.
Once you leave turn the corner and leave Woolston behind, the beach extends to a large bay known as Weston Shore. The water was crystal clear on my visit (if this is a lockdown effect I hope it continues), the sun beaming down on the trees of Westwood in the distance, and there was even an ice cream truck happily keeping people going (though if you buy an ice cream, I suggest you give the swans plenty of distance).
The difference between Weston Shore at high tide and at low tide is significant – you’ll get more of that ‘waves lapping at your feet’ experience at high tide, but both are gorgeous in their own right. In the background can be seen Southampton’s current tallest building at Ocean Village, and the crane for our new tallest building under construction in Woolston.
If you’re feeling energetic, the beach walk continues all the way to Royal Victoria Country Park in Netley with its gorgeous chapel and extensive gardens stretching down to the water. In normal times I’d recommend taking a train out to Hamble and walking back, but right now train travel for recreation purposes isn’t possible. At high tide some of the sections between Weston and Netley become a little trickier, but you can always take an inland route if it becomes impassable.
This whole area is a great place for Covid-safe lockdown walks due to the enormous amount of open space available. The usual disclaimers apply, for the next month we still need to keep our exercise to walking distance – if you’re coming from further this beautiful area will be waiting for you to explore as lockdown eases and spring really blossoms into action.
Winning ‘City of Culture’ is not easy, but Southampton is among a handful of cities still in play and we can all play our part by spreading the word about our city and its bid.
There’s always an element of fortune in things like this but with a little push from our citizens we can do it – here are are the second 6 of 12 reasons that Southampton should be City of Culture 2025 (for part 1 click here):
7. We are a city of music
This has to be the most difficult section to write for me. Where do I start? Perhaps with the bands who call Southampton their home, from the gorgeous hip hop sounds of Route2Roots, to the hilarious and genre-defining Hampshirian folk band The Sweetchunks Band, or something completely different the mix of psychedelic beats and ethereal vocals that are E:Clipse, Firefarm and Chimes. I can’t ignore omnipresent legends such as Daniel Eagle and Dan O’Farrell. And anyone who has been to The Uplifter or Still Moving DJs will know how much fun their nights are. I knew this would happen – I have to stop now or I’ll list hundreds of artists. I love you all!
During the small period that small gigs were allowed, I managed to get tickets to enjoy an intimate and beautiful sit-down session with Wild Front at The 1865. Let me highly recommend both the band and the venue, which did not receive any of the recent music venue government funding and thus needs all the support we can give it.
Speaking of venues, I can’t write a section about music without mentioning The Joiners. The bands that have played in this unassuming corner of St Marys are quite frankly astonishing – from Coldplay to Dan Le Sac to Ed Sheeran to Green Day, to Oasis, to Radiohead. You get the picture. A more complete list is available on the Wikipedia page. I guarantee that most people who have been to The Joiners can name a seminal music moment that happened to them there.
My favourite element of the music scene in Southampton is how welcoming and diverse it is. This is evident in the annual Music in the City showcase, where over a thousand artists bring underground vaults, boats and venues alive with a day of music. The city’s music lovers don’t just stay in their individual genres as they might do in a city where you could go to a mono-genre clubnight every day of the week, but instead support the full spectrum of talent that reaches, and hails from, our shores. Many of my friends contribute to the music scene in the city – being in bands, performing as DJs, and even organising pirate boat parties and street parties. A lot of fun is born in Southampton, from classic rock fun at The Brook in Portswood to drum and bass and ridiculous lasers at Switch, and it always brings me joy to share our music scene with visitors.
I can’t not mention Craig David – who was born to do it in Southampton, and has posted the following video of support as an ambassador to the City of Culture bid. Thank you, Sir Craig.
8. We are a city of cultures
You don’t have to spend long in Southampton to realise how rich in diversity our city is. Alongside English you’ll hear Polish, Urdu, Farsi, Arabic, Panjabi, French, Spanish, German or Greek, to name a few. We are a melting pot of cultures, languages, backgrounds and religions. Alongside food (I’ll get to that later), my favourite aspect of this is how open the cultures are to people learning about their customs, celebrating their heritage and getting involved in their celebrations. From Chinese New Year to inter-community walks, to open days at the city’s wide range of religious buildings, the arms of the community feel always open. It always makes me smile when I bump into Southampton Sikh Seva, regularly out on the streets feeding the homeless and less fortunate, and indeed the city as a whole during the annual Langar week.
Even when you turn the dial of your radio, you’ll hear the diverse sounds of our city on the airwaves. There are no less than 3 international community radio stations in the city on FM: Unity 101 (available on the Shop Local Southampton Radio Player), Awaaz FM, and Fiesta FM (the UK’s only 24 hour Latino radio station on FM).
9. We are a city of rivers and water runs through our veins
From the Test to the Itchen and beyond, stretching out towards the Hamble, Southampton is a city of rivers. Indeed, Southampton Water itself and the Solent it drains into, are formed of the drained valley of an ice age river (a ‘ria’, I learnt, whilst checking my facts).
It can take a bit of scratching the surface to find the riverside in Southampton, but once you do there’s much to discover. The council is working hard to open up sections of the Western side, from proposals at Mayflower park to new waterfront access at Chapel riverside and the boardwalk in St Denys. The story of the waterfront is very much one of both realised and unrealised potential.
On the east side, much more of the waterfront is already open. Riverside park straddles the upper portion of the Itchen, beginning a stretch of riverside greenery that stretches all the way to Winchester. Peartree Common offers great vistas to the Western side of the city, and at the southern side of it you’ll find the listed slipway used by the flying boats of the Supermarine factory (more famous for the Spitfire) – where the photo above is taken from.
Following the new development at Centenary Quay around to the south you’ll reach perhaps one of Southampton’s most surprising features, a full blown beach. It may not have the reputation of Brighton, but sitting on the beach watching the sun set with the city glowing in the background can be as enchanting in Southampton as anywhere.
10. We’ve come along way, but Southampton is not a finished product
Some cities feel like ‘finished product’, fully gentrified and often out of reach without deep pockets. Southampton, though, feels like a city on the up, picking itself up from a rather bleak period of post-war development, and experiencing a, perhaps more subtle, but ongoing and building cultural revival. It only takes a peek at Google Street view to view the transformations that have already happened in the city – take a look at Guildhall Square below – can you believe it was essentially a car park a decade ago?.
Yet despite the changes, Southampton retains a realness, an authenticity, and above all potential. There is still lots to be unearthed here, most notably along the waterfront and in areas such as Northam Road, and there are still plenty of opportunities to be a catalyst for the city’s growth and evolution. And, importantly, house prices are still relatively low (often cited as the lowest in the entire South East), meaning creatives are not being priced out of living here.
Southampton is a city on the edge of something big, being a cultural draw for the South of England, and City of Culture can help us achieve that potential. City of Culture is not awarded to ‘complete packages’, cities need to demonstrate a thirst to benefit from the spotlight that being awarded City of Culture brings.
11. Did I mention the food?
Culture means many things to many people, but I for one get as excited by food as I do anything else. And from the Hong Kong noodle eatery Noodle 8, to glorious Korean food at K Bap, the Greek restaurant George’s established all the way back in 1940, the authentic Spanish tastes of La Regatta, and one of the best arrays of Indian restaurants in any city I’ve visited outside India – Southampton really has it all. Except for maybe Ethiopian, if someone would like to open an Ethiopian restaurant that would be great!
Southampton is home to many an award winning restaurant, including Kuti’s Restaurant who were presented the Tiffin Cup at the House of Commons in 2019, and Ottoman Kitchen who were crowned Best Middle Eastern Restaurant in the UK in the same year. The fact that Beity, another Middle Eastern restaurant (specifically Lebanese), is across the road from Ottoman Kitchen and offers an equally recommended and delicious menu, demonstrates the high culinary standards being set in the city.
A platter at Baboo Ji Indian vegetarian restaurant in Portswood
Other culinary delights in the city include Dhaba 59’s gorgeous take on modern Indian tapas (highly recommend you try their Bombay Badboys and Pau Bhaji), Paddle and Peel’s incredible pizzas by a marina on the eastern bank of the River Itchen, Mediterranean tapas and cocktails at Bacaro, and not forgetting Southampton’s answer to the question “where shall we go for pie?”, Piecaramba.
That Masterchef winner Shelina Permalloo decided to open her restaurant Lakaz Maman (one of only 2 Mauritian restaurants in the country) in Southampton rather than the more-frequently selected London, speaks volumes about the faith she has in her home city’s food scene.
12. You Belong Here To coin the phrase that greets visitors to the John Hansard Gallery on Guildhall Square, I truly believe that Southampton is a place where you can feel a sense of belonging. Southampton is in the Goldilocks zone for city size – small enough where individuals can make a real difference, but big enough to support all walks of life – around the Bargate (I’m near the end of the article and still resisting the need to add an ‘in more normal times’ qualifier to this) you might see large rallies of everyone from motorcyclists to furries.
From personal experience starting Shop Local Southampton, the support from the community and the enthusiastic welcome I’ve received from all quarters is really touching. Putting it another way, Southampton is somewhere you can be a relatively big fish in a relatively big pond, if you want to be, and at the very least you’ll find friend plenty of kindred spirits and have the real possibility of bumping into them in the park or the street.
‘You Belong Here’ by Asten Holmes-Elliot and Breakout Youth (Tate / JHG), 2018
Residents and visitors often don’t realise how big Southampton actually is – along with Portsmouth we make up the 7th largest urban area in the UK and by far the largest in the South outside London. Indeed, again excepting London, Southampton boasts the largest stadium (St Marys) and theatre (The Mayflower) in the South. Southampton is a big city with a small city heart.
Firstly, apologies for the upcoming food photography. I made this morning’s breakfast in a rush and hadn’t planned on it being uploaded to the Internet, but it had occurred to me that not only was it delicious, but it was made up entirely of ingredients from local shops.
During the lockdown, Çılbir (Turkish-style eggs, pronounced “chulbur”) has become a naughty breakfast pleasure of ours. It’s basically eggs sitting on top a bed of warmed yoghurt, surrounded by a moat of chilli buttery sauce, served with a slice of toasted bread.
As it happens, the garlic was from International Foods, the Pul Biber and Cyprus Garden Olive Oil was from Winmar Supermarket in Shirley, and the garlic mushrooms, yoghurt, eggs, and the gorgeous 108 Bakery sourdough were all from Bitterne Box Company. Thus, I thought of sharing it to Shop Local Southampton as a recommendation to you all.
I highly recommend trying Çılbir if you haven’t before. In more normal times you might also find it on the breakfast menu at the award winning Ottoman Kitchen in Old Town.
Southampton is a beautiful city. However, we have a litter problem that too often detracts from that, and makes a place feel unsafe and uncared for. So, I’m really happy to see these new smart bins popping up all around the city, and most recently at Riverside Park. They have a bigger capacity, are solar powered, automatically crush rubbish to take up less space, and alert the waste teams when they’re approaching capacity.
We can all make the city a better place to live if we pick up a piece of litter on our walks. Only do this if you can do it safely – don’t directly touch litter (even a sturdy leaf might offer enough protection), and generally avoid certain rubbish such as glass, Covid waste, tissues etc unless you have specialist equipment, and as always remember not to touch your mouth or face until you get home and clean your hands.
Even if you don’t feel able to pick up litter in general, the presence of these new bins means the litter we do need to dispose of ourselves means we can do so more safely and easily (using the foot pedal), and be more certain that a strong gust of wind or a curious seagull won’t undo all your good work later in the day.
Here’s a development I’m very happy about. As a pedestrian I have not enjoyed navigating the junction of Devonshire Road with Cumberland Place, with several near misses! The whole pavement is very narrow and a bit of an afterthought. I hugely support the council’s move to make the ring road take the majority of the city’s inter-area traffic and to reduce cross-city traffic on side roads, and this should do a lot for both the pedestrian / cyclist experience on Cumberland Place, but also traffic levels in The Polygon. An extra benefit for cars will be the improved flow of traffic without having to manage incoming / outgoing cars to the Polygon. The difference is huge:
This is only the latest improvement to the pedestrian and cyclist experience in the city. From the new segregated cycle highway on the Avenue, to pedestrian priority walkways in St Denys, and to a new pocket park in Townhill Park, things do seem to be on the up for making our a city an easier and more pleasant place to spend time in.
This article is about Mint Dosa but really I’m using it as a demonstration of a truth – Southampton is a great city for authentic Indian food. I learnt on travels around the world that I really took great Indian food on my doorstep for granted. Indian food travelling was often too sweet, too plain, often overpriced or clearly from a ready meal. With local knowledge of those countries I’m sure there are exceptions, but that was my experience. Only when I travelled to India did the food reach the heights of home and I learnt how lucky we are. In Southampton, there isn’t just ‘Indian’ food referring to food from the subcontinent as a whole – you can be transported directly to Kerala, to Goa, to the Punjab, to Nepal, to Pakistan, or to Bangladesh.
Mint Dosa’s food is described as South Indian and Sri Lankan, and of course dosas (giant pancakes made from ground rice and lentils) form a key part of the menu. I strongly recommend the special masala dosa, filled with a potato curry filling and served with coconut chutney, tomato chutney and a vegetable sambar soup – this is a great meal in itself for just over £6. However, I concluded that dosas probably don’t travel too well, so I elected to omit them from my eat-at-home feast.
Not the best Internet food photography sorry! Pictured are a very small part of the Mushroom Manchurian (delicious battered mushrooms in a Chinese inspired sauce – very popular in India), Mutter Paneer (peas and paneer), Chana Bhatura (chickpea curry and bread), and coconut rice. We also ordered a Garlic Naan, a Peshwari Naan, Vegetable Manchurian and mango lassi to drink. For £50 there was enough for both of us to have dinner across two nights.
From Oothappam, to something called “Chicken Lollipop”, to Masala Tea and Kingfisher beer (not available for home delivery – you’ll need to supply your own), to the menu being split into “vegetarian” and “non-vegetarian” – there’s so much about Mint Dosa that reminds me of India.
Mentioning all of the excellent Indian restaurants would take too long, but just quickly I’d like to shout out the following for being awesome: Sanjha, Dhaba 59 (new location at 59 Lodge Road), Baboo Ji, Everest, Basmati, Bayleaf, Kohinoor of Kerala, 5 Rivers, Tandoori (Woolston), and Gurkha Lounge. Some are open now for our takeaway treats, and some will be waiting for you when they re-open.
Southampton – you’re truly lucky to have such awesome Indian food just a phone call away. I highly recommend treating yourself to a lockdown New Years fest.
After Christmas Southampton will be returning to a form of lockdown by entering Tier 4. We might be limited in what we can do, but it’s important to look to the little things in life to bring us moments of joy in hard times. This series will highlight little lockdown pleasures that can be experienced right here in, or within walking distance of, Southampton.
To start with, we’re going somewhere that everyone knows but that offers plenty to discover and can surprise even the most seasoned visitor – Southampton Common. A literal oasis of nature in the city, the Common is much wilder than the pampered Victorian Central Parks, with large open plains, three lakes, and plenty of forest to get lost in.
At this time of year, the little hill by the Boating Lake offers great sunset views.
Stretching over 2km from Southampton Old Cemetery to the north east quadrant, Southampton Common’s 1.48km² is slightly larger than even central London’s biggest – Hyde Park. The underpass from the less well known but equally beautiful Highfield side of the common to the main section hosts a constantly evolving open-air street art gallery.
Southampton Common is home to the rare great crested newt, and a part of the common is thus recognised as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Tucked in to the South-Western corner, though technically a separate entity, Southampton Common opens into the grade 2 listed Southampton Old Cemetery. With elegant Victorian memorials, Belgian war graves, memorials to those lost on the Titanic, and even a tomb of an exiled 19th centaury Argentinean dictator – a walk around Southampton Old Cemetery is a walk through the city’s part in world history.
I’m still discovering new parts of Southampton Common, from enchanting forest clearings to paths following the little brooks that criss-cross the site. Even on a busy day, you can find a quiet area of solace on The Common.
Winning ‘City of Culture’ is not easy, and an amount of our fate is out of our hands, but Southampton is among a small handful of cities still in play. With the support of our citizens we can make it – here are are the first 6 of 12 reasons that Southampton should be City of Culture 2025:
1. Our story reaches through the ages Southampton’s is a story of resilience. Our city has been rocked by events throughout the ages, as can be witnessed from the monuments in the city. The cenotaph and the Titanic Engineers’ Memorial almost gaze at each other in the city centre, representing two of our toughest periods.
Even though destruction in the war was on a horrific scale, the heart of the city, our medieval walls and much of the medieval street layout, the Bargate and our Civic Centre still stand. Southampton has much to uncover on your walk around the city, home of some of the most intact medieval walls in the country.
Southampton has embraced the modern age, and recently has found a way to balance the new and the old in a much more harmonious way, as can be witnessed at Guildhall Square or at the walls by West quay.
2. The arts flow through our city Southampton invested millions of pounds into the arts at the height of the recession, bucking the trend across the country. The city has recently opened a new art gallery and theatre on Guildhall Square, the Sea City museum at the Civic Centre, as well as an arts and heritage centre at Gods House Tower. A space arts, who run Gods House Tower, support grassroots culture in the city. Recently, they hosted a lucky dip awarding £500 to 10 artists in the city to produce anything they like – we can’t wait to see what they come up with.
From the birth of Southampton Pride, supported by excellent fringe theatre The Stage Door, to recent installations by a-space arts, we have shown that our creatives can make funding go a long way – creating rich experiences for residents and visitors to the city.
3. Our galleries are world class From the art deco Southampton City Gallery boasting one of the most extensive art collections outside London, to the modern and intriguing John Hansard Gallery, to a post box near the old castle walls, Southampton is right to be proud of our art galleries. The City Gallery’s collection includes Monet, Lowry (including a piece set in the city), and Renoir. Southampton’s was one of twelve galleries entrusted with displaying part of the Queen’s Leonardo Da Vinci collection on the 500th anniversary of his death.
The Showcase Gallery exemplifies the creativity of the city, with student-led exhibitions ranging from a giant map of Southampton across the entire gallery floor for people to scribble their memories on, to stories of blues parties in the city in the 70s, to the literal painting of the city’s bins and benches.
4. We are a green city (figuratively) In 1986, after funding was cut from central government, the local council persevered on their own to create the only city-centre geothermal power scheme in the country. The council has recently refreshed much of its van fleet with electronic replacements, has paved the way for a complete ‘green way’ walking and cycle network across the city, and in 2021 cruise terminal 5 will become home to the only on-shore electrical solution for visiting cruise ships. From the grassroots perspective Southampton is home to a wide array of campaigns to improve the health and sustainability of the city, from safe space campaigns to local branches of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, as well as eco-friendly stores such as Rice Up vegan supermarket, Café Thrive and Art House vegan cafes, and October Books. The city has a way to go, and the recent Green City Charter maps out how to achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral over the coming decades.
5. We are a green city (literally!) According to the Ordnance Survey’s greenspace data (not biased of course as the home of the OS!), Southampton is the South’s city with the most access to green space, making up over 10% of the city. The Central Parks that run alongside the High Street are Grade II listed and provide a green oasis in the heart of the city, where historical sights intermingle with ornamental, exotic, alpine and rose gardens, as well as large open spaces for sports and cultural events.
Riverside Park offers gorgeous strolls along the Itchen, and connects to a wider walk that stretches all the way to Winchester. The millennia-old Southampton Common, over 2km corner-to-corner, includes a Site of Special Scientific Interest, home to the elusive great crested newt, as well as a beautiful Victorian cemetery and 3 large bodies of water. There will be a specific article on the parks of Southampton in the future, as from St James Park to Peartree Common, there are simply too many to mention here.
What isn’t in doubt, is that Southampton – city of parks, is also surrounded by nature, including the Itchen Valley and Victoria country parks, and the only city in the UK so close to two national parks – the New Forest and the South Downs.
6. Southampton is the Heart of the South Southampton boasts excellent connections, with direct train links to London, Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester and even Newcastle. Our location makes travelling to Southampton incredibly easy for the majority of residents in the South, meaning everyone can take part in our City of Culture festival.
Southamptoners can never be sure whether to click “South West England” or “South East England”. The fact is we are both. Sometimes our accents delve into Westcountry, and making cider has always been popular here, but sometimes we turn to the South East and our connections with the ancient and modern capitals of England – Winchester and London.
Southampton is where East meets West, it’s a melting point and a port of entry and exit. It’s where journeys begin and end. However long you’re here for, you’ll always get a warm welcome in Southampton.
This week we see the return of some live events including some pretty exciting music – take care, and please check with venues to confirm events are running and the current Covid precautions.
