Port history, city energy
Southampton
A working south-coast port where medieval walls, independent dining, waterfront views and one of England's largest urban commons sit side by side.
- Best for
- Medieval walls, port history and independent dining
- Give it
- An Old Town wander or a museum-and-waterfront day
- Don't miss
- The Bargate and the surviving medieval wall circuit
Photo: Mike Faherty · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped
The Fox verdict
A port city with history folded into the everyday
Southampton pairs a medieval walled quarter and major maritime stories with independent dining, waterfront parks and a vast urban common.
Start below the Bargate for old pubs, merchant buildings and the surviving walls, then choose between the city's Titanic and aviation museums, Town Quay brewing, ship-watching by the water or open grass and ancient woodland on Southampton Common.
Where to go
Places in Southampton
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesThe Bargate
Southampton's Norman north gate, built around 1180–1200 and later extended with two drum towers and a first-floor hall that served as the Guildhall until 1888.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 30 minutes
- Locality
- the modern centre
Tudor House & Garden
A timber-framed house formed from 13th- and 14th-century row houses, now a museum with a knot garden; Sir John Dawtrey combined the earlier buildings.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 75 minutes
- Locality
- Bugle Street
SeaCity Museum
The city's flagship museum for the Titanic story and Southampton's port life, housed in the old Magistrates' Court.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- by the Civic Centre
Food & drink
2 placesDancing Man Brewery
A brewpub and restaurant in the 14th-century Wool House, with four regular beers brewed on site and medieval roof beams bearing names carved by Napoleonic prisoners.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 75 minutes
- Locality
- Town Quay
The Grapes
A Victorian corner pub opened in 1855 and closely linked to Titanic crew, including the three Slade brothers who missed the ship after leaving the pub late.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 60 minutes
- Locality
- Oxford Street
Walks & outdoors
1 placeThe Central Parks
A chain of Victorian ornamental parks comprising Watts, East, Houndwell, Palmerston and Hoglands, with Lutyens' Cenotaph in Watts Park.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 60 minutes
- Locality
- through the city centre
History & heritage
2 placesGod's House Tower
A late 13th-century gatehouse and artillery fortification used for changing exhibitions, a café and a local-heritage library.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 60 minutes
- Locality
- the Old Town
Solent Sky Museum
An aviation museum focused on Supermarine and the Spitfire, with more than 20 aircraft including a Spitfire and a Sandringham flying boat.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- Southampton
Things to do
1 place
Southampton Common
More than 365 acres of open grass, ancient woodland, a boating lake and a paddling pool, with a nature trail and playground.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 75 minutes
- Locality
- Southampton
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Three ways to explore Southampton
Signature outings
Pass the Norman gate
Begin at the Bargate, the Norman north gate whose first-floor hall served as Southampton's Guildhall until 1888.
Raise a glass in the Wool House
Try beer brewed on site inside the medieval Wool House, where Napoleonic prisoners carved names into the roof beams.
Roam the city common
Trade the centre for Southampton Common's open grass, ancient woodland, boating lake and nature trail.
The city story
Southampton City Guide
Titanic tales, medieval walls, independent kitchens and open green space in a working port city.
Titanic tales and Oxford Street tables
The Grapes, on Oxford Street, opened in 1855 and by 1912 was the local for Titanic crew. On the morning of 10 April that year the three Slade brothers — Alfred, Bertram and Thomas, all signed on as firemen — were drinking here with John Podesta and William Nutbean. They left around 11:50, reached the White Star dock at 11:59 as the gangway was being drawn up, and the officer refused to lower it. The men who took their places died in the sinking. The Grapes did not, and has been quietly trading on the fact ever since.
Oxford Street is the reason you'd eat in the Old Town. Visit Southampton calls it the home of independent dining, which is a tidy way of saying it's a short run of restaurants where you can decide what you want after you've arrived. Kuti's has done Indian food here for over 35 years. The Oxford Brasserie, one of the oldest restaurants in the city, does cassoulet and steak frites; Medbar handles the Mediterranean end with calamari and chicken souvlaki. Beity, La Regata and 7Bone fill in the rest.
Walls, gates and rival old pubs
The whole quarter sits inside the medieval walls. Half of Southampton's mile-and-a-quarter circuit still stands, one of the more complete town-wall circuits in England, and the Bargate — the Norman north gate, built around 1180 — is still marooned in the middle of the modern centre. Everything north of it is called Above Bar, because that is literally where it is.
Two pubs argue about which is oldest. The Red Lion on High Street was first licensed in 1552 and is known as the Court House, for the tradition that the 1415 Southampton Plot conspirators were tried in its galleried hall before being executed by the Bargate. The Duke of Wellington on Bugle Street was rebuilt as Bere House in 1494 and renamed after Waterloo. Neither has conceded.
Wool House brewing and Bedford Place flavour
The Dancing Man Brewery brews four beers on site inside the Wool House, a 14th-century warehouse the Cistercian monks of Beaulieu put up after a French raid. It held Napoleonic prisoners of war, some of whom carved their names into the roof beams, where they still are. A few doors along, the Pig in the Wall does charcuterie and wine in a gap knocked into the ancient wall itself.
For the livelier end, Bedford Place has Lakaz Maman, the Mauritian street kitchen run by Shelina Permalloo, the 2012 MasterChef champion. Cari, gato piment, grilled octopus, braised mutton, and a bottle of Piment Limón hot sauce on every table. It's often named the best restaurant in the city.
Common ground, waterfront views and Austen
When you need air, Southampton Common runs to over 365 acres with a boating lake, a paddling pool and ancient woodland. Mayflower Park sits on the water by the cruise terminals, front-row for the big ships coming and going. Southampton Central reaches London Waterloo in about an hour and twenty; the Red Jet crosses to Cowes in 23 minutes, and the New Forest is a short drive west.
Jane Austen lived on Castle Square from 1806, glad to be out of Bath. Of the house she wrote that the garden was reckoned the best in town, and planted it with currant and gooseberry bushes.
Stay around Hampshire
Make a longer stay of it
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Photography credits & licences
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- File:Southampton Common, entrance - geograph.org.uk - 2906976.jpg — photograph by Mike Faherty; Southampton Common, entrance by Mike Faherty. Source record on Wikimedia Commons. Declared source image. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0. File changes: Downloaded from Wikimedia Commons, resized to a maximum 1920px edge and encoded as an optimised JPEG. Display changes: Displayed with responsive CSS cropping.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- The Bargate — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Tudor House & Garden — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- God's House Tower — godshousetower.org.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- SeaCity Museum — seacitymuseum.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Solent Sky Museum — solentsky.org operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Southampton Common — planning.data.gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- The Central Parks — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Dancing Man Brewery — dancingmanbrewery.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- The Grapes — visitsouthampton.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation