Renting in Southampton- advice please!

Pigmy

Jonbvn - don't dream of HSB! They sold the brewery to Fullers, closed it and moved it to London. The story is that the brewer didn't tell them the full recipe. It certainly has lost its flavour somewhat - sorry!

Kavanne

You will regret moving to fareham and having to commute, especially if your mates want to go on a night out. There's plenty of accommodation in Southampton, no need to move further afield

beccad

Pigmy wrote: »

I lived in Bitterne Park for a few years - its a nice area though it can be a bit quiet. If you are a student you might like to be a wee bit closer to the action! Bitterne and Bitterne Park are 2 separate neighbourhoods, but they are next door to one another. They are both OK - you might say that BP was slightly nicer but you'd be getting down to a street-by-street comparison. Bitterne is closer to the city centre, BP is closer to the Uni.

I also lived in Bassett/Chilworth - I lodged there for a year. Lovely house, fantastic area, but can be pricey and getting the right property can be like looking for hen's teeth!

Bevois Valley is pretty lively, but take that at face value. Its got lots going on so you don't have to travel far and its got everything on your doorstep but that also brings the usual problems such as noise, hassle etc.

If I were looking I'd probably concentrate on Highfield/Bitterne Park/Bassett, possibly extending to include Bitterne and Portswood. As a rule of thumb I wouldn't look west of the common.

Portswood isn't all that bad. There's worse areas to live in by far, and it's where a lot of students live.

Richard_Webster wrote: »

Southampton traffic is constrained by crossing the Itchen if you are coming from east of the river, although this is not a major problem if you can use Northam Bridge or Cobden Bridge. As I have said, there is queue in peak periods to cross Woodmill Bridge.

However there is also the major constraint of the existence of the Common. If you around Lordswood & Upper Shirley (inc Dale Valley Road) then to get to the University you have to crawl along the single carriageway western end of Burgess Road to go east. You can do two sides of a triangle by doing Winchester Road and Bassett Avenue/Bassett Crescent East to Burgess Road and University Road, but I suspect in the mornings Winchester Road is going to be clogged with people tryng to get out of the City to go north. So, all in all, I wouldn't think that North West Southampton was necessarily good transport wise if you are working/studying at the University. The exception would be if a medic and spending a lot of time at the General Hospital.

It's not really a problem getting out of that end of town in the morning. To be honest it's not really a problem getting in either. There is traffic, but it won't hold you up for more than 10 minutes (in my experience anyway!)

Also worth considering the immediate area around the Inner Avenue, which borders St Mary's/Portswood to the South-East and Polygon to the West. I've known a few students live there.

axomoxia

For the University, I'd say stick to Highfield, Portswood, St Denys and Inner Avenue. You can rent closer to the university, but from what I can tell you'll pay more, and it will be more difficult for going out or going into town. St Mary's used to be studentville (and red-light district), but maybe not so much now.

As to traffic, I found that if the traffic lights failed, then the traffic jams went away.....

Pigmy

The traffic in Soton is pretty dire at the best of times. There is a little man in a control room somewhere whose job it is to ensure that every set of lights you come to is red. He's very good at his job.