Southampton - where to live?

[HelpMeUnpickThis]

My friend’s job / work premises are being relocated and he is looking for accommodation in Southampton. Office location post code is SO15 2BE.

Moving from London so used to commuting via public transport. Looking for a 1 bedroom flat or house in a nice, safe area.

Any suggestions of where to focus the property search? Neither of us have any knowledge of Southampton areas / suburbs at all.

This is for a rental property.

Grateful for any recs.

Edited for typos

Upper Shirley

I used to work there. Lots of nice flats around Carlton Place & the Avenue area & Upper Shirley area. Try estate agents on London Road. The Polygon and Archer's Road area have a lot of student flats and houses.

Ocean Village is full of young professionals, but it would be a 30 minute walk to the office.

Portswood and Highfield are safe. Highfield is more expensive. It’s a short walk (and there are loads of buses). I’d recommend looking around Winn Road and Westwood Road

Thank you all so much for all these replies. Much appreciated.

Have a look around Northlands Rd, Winn Road, Westwood Rd, Banister Park, Highfield and parts of Portswood. There is a university hall on Archers Road but you it is not anti-sociable. There are a lot of mansion blocks of flats there. Carlton Place as another poster has suggested.