Any info on what Southampton is like to live in?

[Themumsnot]

Hi guys
Vague possibility we might need to move to Southampton next year. Would need to find secondary school places and a sixth form place for the DCs. Need to be nearish train station to London and/or the university. Any thoughts on what it is like to live there - what is the town centre like, good places to look for houses that sort of thing. Would be very grateful for any tips or advice.

Hi. Southampton has some lovely parts around the uni in Chilworth (very pricey), Bassett, Highfield and parts of Portswood. Central station is not far (10-20 minutes in traffic). Unfortunately the city was heavily bombed in ww2 and lost a lot of it's older buildings, and charm in the city centre.
Don't know much about senior schools as my dds are much younger but there is a 6th form college and senior schools in Shirley, not far from the uni.
Hope that helps

Eastleigh (about 10 minutes from Southampton) is alright. I lived there for about 16 years. Has some good secondary schools (Thornden) and the train station goes direct to London in 90 minutes tops I believe (been a while). Also has good bus routes. Boyatt Wood has good access to the M3 & M27 which will pretty much take you anywhere.

The town ctr has plenty of variety of restaurants, clothes shops, mobile shops that kind of thing. It now also has a cinema, bowling, etc. Ten minutes by train will take you to Southampton or Winchester, whichever you prefer (Winchester is lovely).

schools aren't that great in southampton tbh - you will prob need to move out to suburbs
as financialwizard said eastleigh/chandlers ford better.
there is a real mix down here old/new, town/country/seaside depends on what lifestyle you want and your budget.

I live in Southampton : Romsey side.

There is NO secondary school in central Southampton other than the Catholic Girls school and the private King Edwards.
Upper Shirley High is coming up BUT Southampton's secondary schools are hamstrung by a history of kids going over the boundary to the Hampshire schools - around 10% do ....
BUT things change and housing developments around Romsey and Chandlers Ford and Hedge End will force more kids back into Southampton schools which will be GOOD for them.
6th Form : I'd not have my kids go to the one in town.

as a place to live : I moved here 29 years ago from London. It has many more good points than bad.

Thanks guys, very useful info. I was looking at Upper Shirley, the school there looks interesting. Where do kids go to 6th form if not the one in town - is Winchester too far? Will also now look at Eastleigh and Chandler's Ford - also Highfield, Bassett and Bitterne.

6th form : Barton Peverill and Peter Symonds

i can personally recommend bishopstoke village just outside eastleigh and b peveril college

I'm moving house on Friday from Shirley to Upper Shirley - going up in the world! Primary schools are good here. Very easy access to central station and the university.

I teach secondary in Southampton and talkinpeace speaks sense about the state of secondary education in Southampton.

I love living in Southampton, I've been here since I was 10. The town isn't pretty, like Winchester, but has plenty going on and lots of restaurants, bars, etc. There's easy access to the New Forest, the coast, as well as it being easy to get to London quickly by train.

Hi, my husband took a job in Southampton last year, and the family have just moved into the area from Cheshire - we actually chose Winchester in the end because of school admissions requirements, family etc, long story, but really liked Southampton, its got lots going on. We have a child about to start 6th form so had a look at some colleges, and thankfully were offered a place at PS in Winchester - but it is a lovely area all round, house prices here are utterly staggering, but the city itself is gorgeous.

Have lived in Southampton all my 54 years so know it well!!
Like most cities it has great, good and bad areas to live (sometimes the difference is a street or two away). DH is a milkman, so sees City during night so knows where the dodgy areas are too!!
Winchester fab but horrendously pricey (and has it's own dodgy areas too).
In Southampton itself I'd recommend Upper Shirley, Highfield, Bassett for lovely 1930's large family homes. The north end of Hill Lane is really lovely too, and walking distance to the central train station for fast London trains. The south end is more let properties, small hotels & B & B's generally.
Good luck if the move happens!

A lot of the lecturers live in Winchester. It's definitely not too far. Chandlers Ford has a bus service from Bournemouth Road (blue star 1) that runs along the avenue. Many who works in the university takes it. I'm just taking a wild guess one of you works for the uni!

All the good places have been suggested already.

Bitterne is slightly cheaper than Upper Shirley but Upper Shirley has the advantage of being much closer to the station. In terms of sixth form, Richard Taunton college - formerly known as Tauntons, is also in Upper Shirley. Any idea what your budget will be?

Watching with interest as planning a move to Winchester...even though the prices give me nose bleeds! But I must say that the comments above are the first positive things I've heard about Eastleigh.
But I agree that some areas of Southampton seem fab!

GroupieGirl the Eastleigh many posters are refering to I believe is the greater Eastleigh area, aka the Eastleigh borough council. It includes Chandlers Ford, Bishopstoke, Hedge End, Hamble, etc. Bishopstoke for example is a lovely village. Eastleigh proper is itself is very rough.

yy toddling - if you are thinking of winch groupie you won't want to live in eastleigh.town centre shops ok.

Yes obviously I'm comparing it to Winchester.

Romsey is lovely too

I wouldn't say Eastleigh is rough, but I never lived in Central Eastleigh, always Boyatt Wood.

Some parts of Chandlers Ford are lovely, same with Bishopstoke, Hedge End. Hamble is lovely but pricey and maybe a bit far out regarding public transport.

Winchester is the rich relation of Eastleigh shall we say, and whilst it is a lovely place to be in is also extremely expensive.

Winchester is nice, but expensive and a bit boring after a while. It's not that big. The residents seem to be at one extreme of the wealth spectrum or the other, not many run of the mill people.

Southampton felt to me very impersonal but does have good facilities and some nice housing. We felt a bit lonely living there.

I would live somewhere like Chandlers Ford, nice houses, great schools and can easily travel to anywhere really.

Chandlers Ford is nice - in the Hiltingbury (older 60s/70s housing mostly) or top of Valley Park or Knightwood (80s and 90s) areas so you get in the Thorndon catchment - I wouldn't consider Toynbee (other secondary school). The only thing is it is fairly soulless - massive commuter belt basically. I wouldn't describe it as Eastleigh, which is different. Good links to Southampton by car, bus or train. I lived there before they put the train in, and I think they have a night bus to Southampton now too so much better for teenagers than 10 years ago!

We are in Romsey which is fantastic, great schools, close to Southampton and lovely town centre. Less facilities than Winchester but cheaper. Train station, Waitrose, theatre, leisure centre so not that bad!

Southampton - Upper Shirley or Bitterne Park are your only choices really unless you have a girl who you are happy to send to a (to be fair fairly diverse) Catholic school. Upper Shirley High is an improving secondary school in a nice residential area, lovely big Victorian houses, and near the Common, train station etc. Bitterne Park has the best mixed school in Southampton, Victorian and turn of the century housing again with a nice park. But in both cases a few roads makes a big difference. You don't want to be too close to Shirley or the Thornhill housing estate.

Winchester - lovely but expensive. The only bits we could afford are not in the King's catchment anyway (best secondary in the are and probably the most difficult to get into, massive number of applications every year) There is Badger Farm to the south but that is another big commuter estate.

Colleges - Taunton's in Southampton is a mix of vocational and A Levels. If your DC are academic they should try and get into Peter Symonds in Winchester. I went round there recently and I think it is great for teens planning on going to uni. I think they have buses covering most of the south. They take people from as far away as the Falkland Islands so wherever you live you will be OK.

Obviously this is all my completely biased opinion.

LOL - the Falklands kids are allowed to Board at PSC :-)

Areas around Southampton that are WELL worth checking out (and still on the blue star bus routes to as teenagers you do not have to drive them)
Fair Oak
Bishops Waltham
Hound
Netley Marsh
North Baddesley
Bishopstoke

to think avoid carefully before considering
Weston
Woolston
Totton
Marchwood
Central Eastleigh
'Waterside' which means Marchwood down to Fawley

IMHO its worth being on the bus route between the pretty bits rather than actually there ....
and Winchester is EYE WATERINGLY expensive and congested ....

I definitely don't want to live in Winchester for various reasons. Upper Shirley is sounding good, have seen a couple of nice houses there as well on Rightmove. BUT, if we did move to Upper Shirley or Bitterne, would public transport to Winchester be relatively straightforward if DD1 wanted to go to 6th form there?
Thanks for all the info, ladies this thread is proving very helpful.

Doddle - the designated bus routes to BP and PSC pick up from all over - or a swift walk across the common to the avenue and pick up the Number 1

Upper Shirley has some lovely lovely big houses
and when you come down to check out the area, go and buy some munchies from Uptons of Bassett - the best butcher / deli / fishmonger in the area and for what you actually get, cheaper than supermarkets!!!

All the London Waterloo trains from So'ton stop at Winchester (and on return) so that would be the best public transport. There are buses that go from City Centre to Winchester also, but train quicker and much more frequent.

So'ton has an an Ikea in town centre too.......!!

In terms of schools/Colleges you could look at Hedge End. Have a friend who has a daughter that catches a train to Peter Symonds College (in Winchester) from there. The secondary school (Wildern) is also excellent.

Bitterne is an ok area and there is a Sixth Form College (Itchen) very nearby. The Bitterne Park school also has a sixth form attached to it now as well as also being a good school.

Outside of Southampton slightly is Warsash/Parkgate. They have another good school - Brookfield. A lot of the students from here tend to go to Barton Peveril Sixth form in Eastleigh. Barton Peveril is also a really good College too. Hope that helps.