Southampton seems to be a good choice for students, but can it offer more beyond that? Or should you even avoid it?
Let's find out.
General
Southampton University is one of the global top 1% universities and has an excellent reputation. Southampton Solent University at the other hand... not so much. The quality of its courses vary wildly, to be honest. Other than that some courses just seem to be a „pay for diploma“ option, but that's the worst case. Solent University offers a lot of hands-on experience and involvement in the industry, while Southampton Uni offers more of a traditional academical path. Both universities have an amicable competitivity.
If you are not going to study here, I don't know why you would chose to live here. While it's cheaper than London (going there takes 2h by bus, 1h by train), it still is rather expensive, but doesn't offer the same job opportunities or recreational activities. There is not that much to do in the long run, most students get bored or even annoyed after a couple of years of studying and move on – but until that, they seem to have a good time, nevertheless.
Due to its geographical location at the southern coast, it has a slightly better climate than your usual english place. I liked it that often times during Winter the sun was shining, which is more enoyjable than a depressing grey. It hardly ever snows.
Girls
So, this is why you're reading this... British girls. Lets address the elephant in the room: British girls are not as bad looking as their reputation goes. Especially the younger generation. And especially here. While you will notice some older people with stereotypical bad teeth, it doesn't seem to be a problem with the younger people anymore – that much, at least. You will find a lot of „proper mint birds“.
Also, as Southampton and the surrounding cities (Portsmouth, Bournemouth and Winchester) have Universities typical age of Students will be 18-22. Postgraduates can be a bit older. Locals and students of the Nursing School (I met a lot of them) can be even older.
That being said, you will never encounter as many fatty-ish, tattooed girls with too much Make Up as here. They didn't really take care of themselves other than putting on a tight dress. Sometimes too tight.
But personally, my biggest problem wasn't their looks, but their personality and behavior. While in the best case british girls can be described as extroverted, sociable and easy going (like in easy to fuck), I have never encounteres as much narcissistic, flaky, antisocial, cheating and vulgar behavior as here. Especially when drunk they tend to go completely mental. If you want easy lays, those slags are perfect and can be gamed directly and cavemanish.
(If you want to get a taste of the worst case of british female partying behaviour, check out this Episode of Bouncers, which documents the work of the security guys at the door: https://youtu.be/eJv6Ku8X_K0)
Nightgame
In the UK, people are pre-drinking either at home or in Pubs. The latter close at 11:00-11:30 pm and at 12 people will hit the clubs completely smashed.
UK Club Nights are usually short (depending on the license and amount of paying customers). You and everyone else will be thrown out rather rudely by Security at 3-4 am.
On the weekend you start to find local residents in the venues, less students. The latter will probably attend some houseparties, you shouldn't miss out if you want to experience some crazy shit.
Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Winchester are located nearby and have a lot students as well. If you need a change of pace... you're not really going to find it there, it's more or less the same with a different look.
Clubs and venues:
Oceana
Oh, fucking Oceana. This will probably be the first place to go, as it is the most (in)famous. Well, what can be said about it. It's a big club and probably everyone has some stories about fingerbanging some hoe on the toilet. If you ever watched Geordie Shore – this is like it.
While I wouldn't call the door hard by any means, it is in the realms of possibility to get sorted out. Tuesday is locals only, Wednesday is Students only. On the Weekend it competes with other clubs, but it's the McDonalds of Partying.
Yates
One of those restaurant/pub places, that transform into a party place at night. It is considered really low brow, but on Wednesdays social clubs are being held here. On Thursdays a pint costs one pound, and it became one of my favorite spots to go. Extremely highly frequented, a lot of girls. I had some amazing evenings here. It usually closes at midnight, and afterwards you can go to...
Café Parfait
If you ignore the constant smell of sweat and the sticky floor, it's quite comfy and has a nice roof terrace with shisha smoking. But most of the time it is an overcrowded hell hole with shitty, completely smashed people and I hated going there, frankly.
Buddha Lounge
On of the most decent places to go at Bedford Place. Shares it court yard with Toyko and Orange Rooms. Will usually be the only place at Bedford's open until after 2am.
Orange Rooms
Quirky and „hip“ bar at Bedford's Place. Cool staff, hot girls on the weekend. Will close relatively early and people will go to either Oceana, Buddha Lounge or The Edge.
Tokyo
Well, it's more or less a mix between Buddha and Tokyo. To my understanding, it's owned by the same people, and I never really have grasped their business model, having 3 more or less similar places directly next to each other. It usually closes early.
Pop World
If cheesy 90's music is your thing, well then this is your place to go.
The Edge
It's a low key gay club. Alternative people like to go here, because it's hip. Girls go here to party without being hit on and don't have a bitch shield. I wouldn't recommend it as a strategy, though, as quality is not always high. Naturally, you have to bring some tolerance,as you enter „their“ territory. But luckily it's not too flamboyant.
Day Game
If you are attending University, you can casually approach girls on the campus. There will usually be a lot of traffic from student accomodations to the campus, and also within the city center. I would avoid main streets, as sales people tend to spam approach and you will get dismissed more easily.
Day Game should be the biggest priority. While there's a high volume of girls at night, their irrational behaviour and flakiness will completely frustrate you.
Online Game
Do yourself the favor and forget it.
On OkCupid you have only a couple of dozens girls, most of them fat and lesbian feminists.
Tinder is slightly better, but your your only regular dates (1-2x month) will be sub-mediocre, fat-ish hoes and you will get depressed. No amount of good pictures or textgame will eleviate that. Trust me, I tried.
My advise: Social Circle Game
My biggest advise is to build a massive social circle. After one year in Soton I felt like I knew half of its populace. I knew a lot of club promoters, door men, VIP people and could go on a party anytime I wanted to – in Clubs sometimes for free. This can be achieved by going out a lot and talking to a lot of people. Well doesn't that sound simple.
Also really beneficial is joining a social club, or getting to know the people you live with in a student accomodation (student accomodations are usually party central number one). Also getting to know the people in your course make sense, too, but that really depends on your course and how cool people are there. Sausage fests like IT will suck, plain and simple.
Important to know:
During summer (June – End of September) there is hardly anything to do here. Clubs are not open as usual, and most students go home. Its strange how empty the town becomes during the best time of the year.
Southampton is full of homeless people and beggars, it's insane. They are really aggressive in their approach and a general nuisance. Never give them money, they use it for drugs and alcohol. This is also recommended by dedicated charity organisations, which actually care for them. Phenomenons like these make you notice how fucked up society is.
There are some considerable issues with crime. Don't walk the park alone at night. You might face either crazy junkies or minorities who are going to rob you. I remember one guy was raped by some drugged up junkies in the park. Completely fucked up. Other than that you always hear stories about some ghetto gangsters robbing people.
Final Judgment
I have a love-hate relationship with this place. At the one hand I got to know a lot amazing, easy going and cool people and made some good friendships that will last for life. At the one hand I saw how completely fucked up gender and dating dynamics are, epitomizing western culture perfectly.
People might be polite, but only to a superficial level. I'm sick to death of this mental drinking behaviour and girls misbehaving. The junkies and beggars also point to what's wrong with society. The cuisine isn't really nice and there isn't a lot to do culturally. I would only advise to go here if you are want to study here – for 1 year or less (it's nice for the CV). Other than that, I recommend going elsewhere.
That concludes my data sheet of Southampton and gives you a good overview of it. If you have further questions, feel free to ask.
Let's find out.
General
Southampton University is one of the global top 1% universities and has an excellent reputation. Southampton Solent University at the other hand... not so much. The quality of its courses vary wildly, to be honest. Other than that some courses just seem to be a „pay for diploma“ option, but that's the worst case. Solent University offers a lot of hands-on experience and involvement in the industry, while Southampton Uni offers more of a traditional academical path. Both universities have an amicable competitivity.
If you are not going to study here, I don't know why you would chose to live here. While it's cheaper than London (going there takes 2h by bus, 1h by train), it still is rather expensive, but doesn't offer the same job opportunities or recreational activities. There is not that much to do in the long run, most students get bored or even annoyed after a couple of years of studying and move on – but until that, they seem to have a good time, nevertheless.
Due to its geographical location at the southern coast, it has a slightly better climate than your usual english place. I liked it that often times during Winter the sun was shining, which is more enoyjable than a depressing grey. It hardly ever snows.
Girls
So, this is why you're reading this... British girls. Lets address the elephant in the room: British girls are not as bad looking as their reputation goes. Especially the younger generation. And especially here. While you will notice some older people with stereotypical bad teeth, it doesn't seem to be a problem with the younger people anymore – that much, at least. You will find a lot of „proper mint birds“.
Also, as Southampton and the surrounding cities (Portsmouth, Bournemouth and Winchester) have Universities typical age of Students will be 18-22. Postgraduates can be a bit older. Locals and students of the Nursing School (I met a lot of them) can be even older.
That being said, you will never encounter as many fatty-ish, tattooed girls with too much Make Up as here. They didn't really take care of themselves other than putting on a tight dress. Sometimes too tight.
But personally, my biggest problem wasn't their looks, but their personality and behavior. While in the best case british girls can be described as extroverted, sociable and easy going (like in easy to fuck), I have never encounteres as much narcissistic, flaky, antisocial, cheating and vulgar behavior as here. Especially when drunk they tend to go completely mental. If you want easy lays, those slags are perfect and can be gamed directly and cavemanish.
(If you want to get a taste of the worst case of british female partying behaviour, check out this Episode of Bouncers, which documents the work of the security guys at the door: https://youtu.be/eJv6Ku8X_K0)
Nightgame
In the UK, people are pre-drinking either at home or in Pubs. The latter close at 11:00-11:30 pm and at 12 people will hit the clubs completely smashed.
UK Club Nights are usually short (depending on the license and amount of paying customers). You and everyone else will be thrown out rather rudely by Security at 3-4 am.
On the weekend you start to find local residents in the venues, less students. The latter will probably attend some houseparties, you shouldn't miss out if you want to experience some crazy shit.
Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Winchester are located nearby and have a lot students as well. If you need a change of pace... you're not really going to find it there, it's more or less the same with a different look.
Clubs and venues:
Oceana
Oh, fucking Oceana. This will probably be the first place to go, as it is the most (in)famous. Well, what can be said about it. It's a big club and probably everyone has some stories about fingerbanging some hoe on the toilet. If you ever watched Geordie Shore – this is like it.
While I wouldn't call the door hard by any means, it is in the realms of possibility to get sorted out. Tuesday is locals only, Wednesday is Students only. On the Weekend it competes with other clubs, but it's the McDonalds of Partying.
Yates
One of those restaurant/pub places, that transform into a party place at night. It is considered really low brow, but on Wednesdays social clubs are being held here. On Thursdays a pint costs one pound, and it became one of my favorite spots to go. Extremely highly frequented, a lot of girls. I had some amazing evenings here. It usually closes at midnight, and afterwards you can go to...
Café Parfait
If you ignore the constant smell of sweat and the sticky floor, it's quite comfy and has a nice roof terrace with shisha smoking. But most of the time it is an overcrowded hell hole with shitty, completely smashed people and I hated going there, frankly.
Buddha Lounge
On of the most decent places to go at Bedford Place. Shares it court yard with Toyko and Orange Rooms. Will usually be the only place at Bedford's open until after 2am.
Orange Rooms
Quirky and „hip“ bar at Bedford's Place. Cool staff, hot girls on the weekend. Will close relatively early and people will go to either Oceana, Buddha Lounge or The Edge.
Tokyo
Well, it's more or less a mix between Buddha and Tokyo. To my understanding, it's owned by the same people, and I never really have grasped their business model, having 3 more or less similar places directly next to each other. It usually closes early.
Pop World
If cheesy 90's music is your thing, well then this is your place to go.
The Edge
It's a low key gay club. Alternative people like to go here, because it's hip. Girls go here to party without being hit on and don't have a bitch shield. I wouldn't recommend it as a strategy, though, as quality is not always high. Naturally, you have to bring some tolerance,as you enter „their“ territory. But luckily it's not too flamboyant.
Day Game
If you are attending University, you can casually approach girls on the campus. There will usually be a lot of traffic from student accomodations to the campus, and also within the city center. I would avoid main streets, as sales people tend to spam approach and you will get dismissed more easily.
Day Game should be the biggest priority. While there's a high volume of girls at night, their irrational behaviour and flakiness will completely frustrate you.
Online Game
Do yourself the favor and forget it.
On OkCupid you have only a couple of dozens girls, most of them fat and lesbian feminists.
Tinder is slightly better, but your your only regular dates (1-2x month) will be sub-mediocre, fat-ish hoes and you will get depressed. No amount of good pictures or textgame will eleviate that. Trust me, I tried.
My advise: Social Circle Game
My biggest advise is to build a massive social circle. After one year in Soton I felt like I knew half of its populace. I knew a lot of club promoters, door men, VIP people and could go on a party anytime I wanted to – in Clubs sometimes for free. This can be achieved by going out a lot and talking to a lot of people. Well doesn't that sound simple.
Also really beneficial is joining a social club, or getting to know the people you live with in a student accomodation (student accomodations are usually party central number one). Also getting to know the people in your course make sense, too, but that really depends on your course and how cool people are there. Sausage fests like IT will suck, plain and simple.
Important to know:
During summer (June – End of September) there is hardly anything to do here. Clubs are not open as usual, and most students go home. Its strange how empty the town becomes during the best time of the year.
Southampton is full of homeless people and beggars, it's insane. They are really aggressive in their approach and a general nuisance. Never give them money, they use it for drugs and alcohol. This is also recommended by dedicated charity organisations, which actually care for them. Phenomenons like these make you notice how fucked up society is.
There are some considerable issues with crime. Don't walk the park alone at night. You might face either crazy junkies or minorities who are going to rob you. I remember one guy was raped by some drugged up junkies in the park. Completely fucked up. Other than that you always hear stories about some ghetto gangsters robbing people.
Final Judgment
I have a love-hate relationship with this place. At the one hand I got to know a lot amazing, easy going and cool people and made some good friendships that will last for life. At the one hand I saw how completely fucked up gender and dating dynamics are, epitomizing western culture perfectly.
People might be polite, but only to a superficial level. I'm sick to death of this mental drinking behaviour and girls misbehaving. The junkies and beggars also point to what's wrong with society. The cuisine isn't really nice and there isn't a lot to do culturally. I would only advise to go here if you are want to study here – for 1 year or less (it's nice for the CV). Other than that, I recommend going elsewhere.
That concludes my data sheet of Southampton and gives you a good overview of it. If you have further questions, feel free to ask.
