General Information

History

Southampton or ‘The City of Kings' lies on the South East Coast of Britain, at the Northern most point of Southampton Water. A population of over 230,000 makes Southampton the biggest city in Hampshire.

Southampton has strong links all over the globe, with its trade, cultural and social exchanges positive aspects for this thriving city...

Le Harve, France. A major French Port
Rems Murr Kreis, Germany. A well established port.
Trieste, Italy. Keen to develop economic and social exchanges
Kaliningrad, Russia. An area of strategic interest for the European Union
Newfoundland, Canada. Promoting each other's maritime interests.
Szczecin, Poland. Transferring of business knowledge
Qingdao, China. In 1997 an alliance was gained.

The Right Worshipful Mayor of Southampton, Councillor Brian Parnell resides in The Civic Centre watching over the City like the 785 Mayors before him.

Publicity

Staying in tune with the city has never been easier. The Southern Daily Echo whose readership pushes 120,000 readers a week is the biggest publication for Southampton and can be found online or in newsagents.

BBC Radio Solent 96.1 & 103.8, The Coast 106, Power FM 103.2, Wave 105.2 and Radio Hampshire on frequency 107.8 are all in touch with the South becoming perfect audio partners to the city.

Transportation

Within a city of this size transport is an important factor, unlike most cities Southampton has the big 5 with Taxi's, Buses, Trains, Ferries and Planes.

Taxi companies are plentiful within the city, navigating the one-way system is tricky even for residents so investing a few quid to make the trip easier is your best bet. Radio Taxi's have been serving the city since 1972 and West Quay Cars have consistently been Southampton's leading professionals.

Buses frequent the city, with the biggest bus stops being stationed outside the train station and outside of West Quay shopping centre. Stagecoach South , Bluestar and First all operate within Southampton and around the Solent Area. An important addition is the free City-link bus which departs from the train station for free and shuttles commuters into the town and onto Town Quay ferry terminals.

Southampton Central Train Station is located near the intersection between the A3057 and A3024 and helps over five million passengers travel the country. New CityVision developments could see more renovation to the station and with Cross County, South West Trains and First Great Western trains all departing the station is more popular than ever.

Unjust it would be not to mention the ports in a historical port town. Many operators offer trips out of the United Kingdom with chartered vessels arriving from Ireland, France, Spain, Belgium, Holland and Denmark. Southampton has also been the departure point for vast criuseliners such as the QEII and the fateful Voyage of Titanic in 1912. A popular operator is Red Funnel who connects the Isle of Wight with the United Kingdom Mainland. The terminals, easily accessible by free City-link buses can be found on Town Quay Road.

Southampton Airport passes 1.96 million passengers through its gates annually, with 15 tour operators and 43 destinations. The airport is has its own station Southampton Airport Parkway (five minutes from Southampton Central Train Station) and recently became the winner of the European Award of the ACI Airport People Award 2008 for excellent customer service achievements and also won the City Champion Award for Innovation 2008 from Business Southampton. Having only one terminal does not hinder the airport from ushering over 45,000 flights every year into the sky.

Services

Southampton General Hospital is found on Tremona Road and offers NHS Care all year round. The Southampton University Hospital NHS Trust prides itself on tremendous work in getting 80% of referrals treated within 18 weeks.

Southampton Central Police station is situated within the West Wing of the Civic Centre, the top of Western Esplanade road. This location positions the precinct at the heart of Central Southampton. The enquiries office is manned 24 hours-a-day and Chief Inspector Alison Scott speaks highly of her force, "In Central we aim to improve the quality of life for everyone who lives and works in the area."

Landmarks and Parks

The City has over 1,100 hectares' of award winning green spaces. Recently four green flags were presented to the city for its excellent work in maintaining and developing green spaces. Southampton Common , the biggest of the recreational areas, with child's play area and duck pond retained the award for the second year running. The Common can be found outside the city centre, past Portswood along The Avenue. The Central Parks, closer to the town centre received the awards for the fifth time along with Mayflower Park positioned closer to the docks.

Dashed around the city are reminders of the cities illustrious history.

The Civic Centre erected in 1932 is where the City Council resides. Now housing the library, art gallery and police station the cluster of buildings stands firm as a reminder of generations past.

Kimbers Chimney or the clock tower adjoining the Centre was created separately but was constructed so that almost every part of the city can view the clock.

The historic Bargate can be found at the bottom of Above Bar Street, almost marking the end of the shopping high street. Still the Bargate market thrives on Fridays and Saturdays as it once did hundreds of years ago.

The Purpose of the castle structure was to form an integral part of the great Southampton wall to keep out invaders from the sea. Surviving parts of the wall can be seen all over the city, all one needs are willing legs and open eyes...

(c) James Pleass, 2008