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Southampton the 4th crappest town in the UK

alpine_saint

By alpine_saint,
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anothersaintinsouthsea

anothersaintinsouthsea

Posted
Posted
What Southampton needs is a focal point, a centre point and a talking point, altogether is fine it just needs something for a spark, why go there? Thats the thing, its different if you live there as you have to but why would someone go there over another place?

The lack of ambition is amazing.

 

Agree with this, just from an asthetic point of view the Spinnaker Tower (for example) has really improved Portsmouth for residents and visitors.

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Scummer

Scummer

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Posted
Liverpool is a massive working port what are you on about?

And the one in the City thats not used for the docks really any more is used for this

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Albert_dock_at_night.jpg

The derelict streets are not really anywhere near there so thats no worry, the worry is Southampton and the Royal Pier? The City Centre, they could tear the centre down and start again, integrated transport system, trams, bus station, the council should actually want to rival Liverpool as soon they will get turn around Cruise ships and I can assure you the tourists would rather get off spend some money and go to London and the like from Liverpool than Southampton.

 

That wasn't aimed as a criticism of Liverpool, don't be so touchy. The link you posted was for a massive redevelopment of derelict docks next to the city centre wasn't it? Have a look at an aerial shot of Southampton, 95% of the shoreline is taken up by active docks. The Mayflower Park area is tiny in comparison.

 

I also don't understand who you imagine would be doing all this redevelopment? You talk as if it's the council, but that's a ridiculous idea. This type of scheme has to be performed by private companies. As we've already established, property in Southampton is expensive. So you'd have to spend a fortune buying loads of people out (assuming they want to sell), then spend another fortune knocking everything you've just bought down, then a third fortune building the new development. It's a pipe-dream, it would never happen. My point was that if you have a bunch of derelict land going spare, you're already a long way down the road to accomplishing a grand scheme.

 

I'm not really fussed whether a city is attractive to tourists anyway, a city should exist for the people who live there day in day out. That means decent houses, employment, recreational areas. I lived in Portsmouth for years and despite the fuss people make about tourist attractions (which the locals very rarely visit), Southampton p1sses all over it for quality of life. I know it's upsetting that people keep mentioning it, but if people want something out of the ordinary there's this little place called London up the road........

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The Cat

The Cat

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West Quay is fine for what it is, there is plenty of room elsewhere in town to rebuild, Bargate, East Street and around there. Plans announce the other week for Mayflower/Waterfront look really good, just a pity it'll take close to twenty years for them to be delivered.

 

They started knocking down East Street carpark this week. Morrisons is going to be built there. That in itself is hardly exciting but it will be better than a decrepit car park next to a grim old shopping centre that's been closed for years.

 

More needs to be done around the Bargate. It's one of the most well known buldings in the city but outside it currently is the bus station, the closed Bargate shopping centre and a mothballed Jongleurs. It would be the perfect place to develop a decent sized music/arts venue. The Guildhall is so bad for sound that a lot of bands actively avoid it.

 

As for Liverpool, I've always liked it when visiting but then apart from the obvious tourist sights and the areas around Anfield and Goodison I haven't really explored too far.

 

I know it's the Wirral but I had a frankly bizarre weekend in New Brighton the year we drew 0-0 at Anfield in the last away game of the season. People singing UDA songs in pubs, kids dealing pills on street corners, 50 year old prostitutes hanging around in hotel toilets. I haven't been back there since.

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Sour Mash

Sour Mash

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Why don't you start a separate thread about Liverpool and what is happening there and then we can all post on that?
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aintforever

aintforever

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It is you have unwittingly proved my point, in depressed areas of the City people now have the chance to buy and renovate homes that have long been boarded up, thats ambitious to try and improve the area.

 

I thought it was a thriving and popular city? Read that article - there are thousands of empty properties because no one wants to live there.

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Barry Sanchez

Barry Sanchez

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Posted

 

Very good indicator for things to do yes, London has loads, in turn comes good restaurants and the like, far too expensive to live for all but a great tourist destination, so we could look at two things is Southampton as a City a good City to live in for culture and is it good for tourists? No to both counts.

The outskirts are great but that is missing the point by about 240,000 people.

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KelvinsRightGlove

KelvinsRightGlove

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Very good indicator for things to do yes, London has loads, in turn comes good restaurants and the like, far too expensive to live for all but a great tourist destination, so we could look at two things is Southampton as a City a good City to live in for culture and is it good for tourists? No to both counts.

The outskirts are great but that is missing the point by about 240,000 people.

 

I live here, not on great money, but I love it here.

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OldNick

OldNick

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The problem with Southampton is tht we have had more focus on traffic lights and speed cameras instead of focussing on wealth generation that I turn lifts the lifestyle of the lesser off. Portsmouth have focused on bringing in commercial ventures that have made the city more affluent. When I was younger Portsmouth was a doss hole, but now our city has dropped down into their former depths. Until we get a vibrant council who want to push the city forward it will continue a spiral downwards. Whilst the Spinnaker is an expensive bauble, it can be seen from all directions and a memorable feature to visitors, a focus, what has Southampton? 100s of traffic lights

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Barry Sanchez

Barry Sanchez

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On the edge, harrow. Rent, not own. Rather not discuss the rent.

 

Harrow is lovely, a beautiful place to live, so expensive to buy though, this is the point I was making about London, if you have money you could easily live in Primrose Hill, Wimbledon Common, Harrow, Kensington, Fulham etc etc, but for every one of them there are x3 Tottenhams, Hackneys, Lewishams and Brents.

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Barry Sanchez

Barry Sanchez

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Posted (edited)
Houses cost more down south and so how would that make the pro argument for Liverpool?

 

What do you mean a pro argument? Mortgage poverty is very real in the South, this in turn would effect the standard of living, I would rather not talk money as thats crass, but I would imagine the average person up here in an average house would have a far better standard of living than their Southern brother, its obvious if the house is double the cost but twice as small.

Edited by Barry Sanchez
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KelvinsRightGlove

KelvinsRightGlove

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Harrow is lovely, a beautiful place to live, so expensive to buy though, this is the point I was making about London, if you have money you could easily live in Primrose Hill, Wimbledon Common, Harrow, Kensington, Fulham etc etc, but for every one of them there are x3 Tottenhams, Hackneys, Lewishams and Brents.

 

The hill is nice. I promise the rest isn't. Don't be fooled by the school.

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KelvinsRightGlove

KelvinsRightGlove

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Maybe I am too be honest, been there a few times around there lovely, isn't Harrow nice but the surrounding areas ****?

 

Harrow hill, where the school is, is very nice and yes very expensive.

 

The rest really is not great. Sure there are worse places. But it really isn't lovely.

 

London, like all cities has nice parts and not so nice. In my opinion, it's still a great place to live.

 

So much history. Massive amounts of museums and galleries, apart from New York it is the best place for the theatre (I love the theatre), scores of live music venues, always so much going on. Ok it's not on my doorstep, but the slight distance from the very centre is a small price to pay, again in my opinion.

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Barry Sanchez

Barry Sanchez

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Harrow hill, where the school is, is very nice and yes very expensive.

 

The rest really is not great. Sure there are worse places. But it really isn't lovely.

 

London, like all cities has nice parts and not so nice. In my opinion, it's still a great place to live.

 

So much history. Massive amounts of museums and galleries, apart from New York it is the best place for the theatre (I love the theatre), scores of live music venues, always so much going on. Ok it's not on my doorstep, but the slight distance from the very centre is a small price to pay, again in my opinion.

 

How much is going on in Southampton for City of its size? Culture? Restaurants? Building's? Landmark points? Not too much at all.

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Sour Mash

Sour Mash

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Posted
It is you have unwittingly proved my point, in depressed areas of the City people now have the chance to buy and renovate homes that have long been boarded up, thats ambitious to try and improve the area.
They're practically giving houses away in Liverpool. Why? Because no-one wants to live there. I'm sure you can find lots of examples of houses being sold for £1 in Southampton though?
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scotty

scotty

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Posted
They could always knock down Toys R Us and a few car parks and put the Lido back in it's rightful place, complete with the chip shop across the road. Southampton would then be a proper town again.:rolleyes: What the youth of Southampton does all summer without the Lido stumps me.

 

The-Childrens-Area.jpg

 

That looks like a scene by Dante. Christ, did we really used to go there??

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Barry Sanchez

Barry Sanchez

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Posted
They're practically giving houses away in Liverpool. Why? Because no-one wants to live there. I'm sure you can find lots of examples of houses being sold for £1 in Southampton though?

 

Its to use perfectly good housing and not rebuild areas, the guy who bought the first one has lived in Liverpool for 6 years, there are lots of conditions to getting it, over a 1000 applied, do better.

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Barry Sanchez

Barry Sanchez

Posted
Posted
Bazza, you whinge about the club, you whinge about the city - why the F... do you even bother coming on here.

I whinge as you put it as I care, I would love to speak of my hometown City as a great open minded different place where its cultural and great for the young and old alike, not a cultural backwater that people have no desire to visit, it to be honest hurts that no one cares enough about it, they are more concerned about living in a dull drab place with stable house prices and a New Forest pony 10 miles to the West.

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  • 1 month later...
buctootim

buctootim

Posted
Posted
City centre architecture the clincher, apparently.

 

town.png

 

The PWC study is all about practical elements like housing costs, commuting times etc - housing tends to be cheaper in ugly places. Southampton planners have so much to answer for. In places like Brighton and Cambridge the council impose high design standards. In Southampton the just seem grateful to anyone whho wants to build anything. West Quay is pretty good but most of the post war developments are pig awful.

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The9

The9

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So cheap and cheerful, does Southampton have any standards when it comes to the buildings? Of a City of approx 250,000 is there a less attractive place in the UK?

I am really struggling.

 

Let's deal in the facts, a quick Google gives me this list:

 

London 7.2 Million

Birmingham 992000

Leeds 720000

Glasgow 560000

Sheffield 512000

Bradford 467000

Edinburgh 450000

Liverpool 440000

Manchester 420000

Bristol 380000

Wakefield 316000

Cardiff 310000

Coventry 305000

Nottingham 285000

Leicester 280000

Sunderland 280000

Belfast 280000

Newcastle upon Tyne 259000

Brighton 248000

Hull 240000

Plymouth 240000

Stoke-on-Trent 239000

Wolverhampton 239000

Derby 230000

Swansea 225000

Southampton 220000

 

Of that list I have been to the following which are less attractive than Southampton:

Birmingham 992000

Sheffield 512000

Bristol 380000

Coventry 305000

Leicester 280000

Newcastle upon Tyne 259000

Hull 240000

Stoke-on-Trent 239000

Wolverhampton 239000

Derby 230000

Swansea 225000

 

I've not been to Sunderland, Bradford, Wakefield or Belfast and I'm pretty sure they'd be contenders too.

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pap

pap

Posted
Posted
The PWC study is all about practical elements like housing costs, commuting times etc - housing tends to be cheaper in ugly places. Southampton planners have so much to answer for. In places like Brighton and Cambridge the council impose high design standards. In Southampton the just seem grateful to anyone whho wants to build anything. West Quay is pretty good but most of the post war developments are pig awful.

 

Southampton is not a big city - but it has so much it could have drawn on from its history. We're a former walled medieval city and still one of the world's ports of note, if only for the passenger business. To have this sh!theap of modernity plunged into the middle of town is my biggest gripe.

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Barry Sanchez

Barry Sanchez

Posted
Posted
Let's deal in the facts, a quick Google gives me this list:

 

London 7.2 Million

Birmingham 992000

Leeds 720000

Glasgow 560000

Sheffield 512000

Bradford 467000

Edinburgh 450000

Liverpool 440000

Manchester 420000

Bristol 380000

Wakefield 316000

Cardiff 310000

Coventry 305000

Nottingham 285000

Leicester 280000

Sunderland 280000

Belfast 280000

Newcastle upon Tyne 259000

Brighton 248000

Hull 240000

Plymouth 240000

Stoke-on-Trent 239000

Wolverhampton 239000

Derby 230000

Swansea 225000

Southampton 220000

 

Of that list I have been to the following which are less attractive than Southampton:

Birmingham 992000

Sheffield 512000

Bristol 380000

Coventry 305000

Leicester 280000

Newcastle upon Tyne 259000

Hull 240000

Stoke-on-Trent 239000

Wolverhampton 239000

Derby 230000

Swansea 225000

 

I've not been to Sunderland, Bradford, Wakefield or Belfast and I'm pretty sure they'd be contenders too.

 

Do they have less things to do than our City? Newcastle? Belfast? You dont get out much do you, or when you do you are not looking. Having been to most of the mentioned places I ask again, Southampton is a cultureless place with nothing pulling the visitor in, http://gouk.about.com/od/getawaysandshorthops/ss/top20.htm

Its a souless bleak place to me where fun is to be had elsewhere, its not a place for the young.

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Barry Sanchez

Barry Sanchez

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Posted
Southampton is not a big city - but it has so much it could have drawn on from its history. We're a former walled medieval city and still one of the world's ports of note, if only for the passenger business. To have this sh!theap of modernity plunged into the middle of town is my biggest gripe.

 

The question of passenger traffic could be questioned soon as where would you rather get off of you started your UK sight seeing holiday? The home of the Beatles and more listed buildings in it than any other City in the UK bar London or the home of Craig David and the West Quay shopping centre?

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pap

pap

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The question of passenger traffic could be questioned soon as where would you rather get off of you started your UK sight seeing holiday? The home of the Beatles and more listed buildings in it than any other City in the UK bar London or the home of Craig David and the West Quay shopping centre?

 

Short of re-arranging the space-time continuum, I don't think it's ever going to be possible for the Beatles to have been born in Southampton.

 

There is a shortage of attractive buildings in Southampton. That can be addressed.

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