h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Apparently according to a new report Southampton is the third best city to live in in the UK due to 'Growth': http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/17203491.southampton-rated-third-in-index-of-best-uk-cities-in-which-to-live-and-work. 'Growth' – what 'Growth'? As someone who has worked in the city for over a decade I can honestly say I'm glad I don't live in Southampton, which as we've seen is the sort of place where a memorial to the War Dead is defaced within days.
I started working in Southampton in 2005 when the main shopping roads in town were, south to north, High Street, East Street, Hanover Buildings, Above Bar Street, London Road, Bedford Place and Carlton Crescent, with shopping centres East Street Shopping Centre, Bargate Shopping Centre, West Quay Shopping Centre and the West Quay. There were 4 book shops and 5 music and video shops as well as a Post Office and 25 banks.
Now in 2018 the High Street, London Road, Bedford Place and Carlton Crescent are all-but-empty of shops. There is only one book shop, no music and video shops, no dedicated Post Office and only 8 bank branches. Both the East Street and Bargate Shopping Centres have been demolished.
All that is left in the city centre are clothes shops and restaurants. There have been some new developments – namely the Cultural Quarter, which has brought a second theatre into the city centre that is out of most people's price range, but the Cultural Quarter is predominantly restaurants. The other completed main development is the extension of the West Quay, the West Quay Watermark, which added a new cinema to the shopping centre (but resulted in another shopping centre closing elsewhere) as well as lots of even more restaurants. The Bargate Quarter is to be redeveloped to become even more restaurants, as well as Student Accommodation.
That is the other very noticeable difference between now and 2008. The number of private Student Accommodation tower blocks. Towering edifices are being erected everywhere to provide luxury student flats with Wi-Fi and en-suite facilities. 20 years ago students went to a university-owned Hall of Residence for a year and then moved out to a crummy falling-down house that they shared with other students. Now students don't go to the uni-owned accommodation any more as they can go to newer halls of residence with better facilities, and they stay there for 3 years and bypass the crummy shared-house stage entirely. I suppose it is growth, but not of a kind that benefits people who live in the area.
Meanwhile Solent University, where I work, has 'grown' by having 24% fewer students than it did 5 years ago, in an article published this month in 'The Times'… (you have to subscribe so I can't provide a link).

And there isn't a shop I can walk into in the city any more where I can buy the 50th Anniversary Edition of The Beatles' White Album on CD or vinyl. Call that 'Growth'?

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Wow

I first visited Southampton in 2005 and had an excellent day out in the city centre but I suspected the High Street would suffer since then as my favourite shops such as Past Times have gone out of business everywhere I can't say I had a particularly good time in the West Quay in 2012, as it is much more generic so I could have been anywhere...

Was the Bargate shopping centre one of the places where the Zebras were a couple of years ago?

Yep, West Quay is the sort of shopping centre that is identical to all other shopping centres in the world. (I was there on the day that it opened and, when the mayor was declaring it open, threw a paper aeroplane from the top of the concourse during his speech).

The Bargate Centre was closed when the zebras were around, although they did have one near the entrance next to the actual Bargate (medieval gateway) so you're probably thinking of the Marlands. I quite like the Marlands, surprisingly, as they built it around the old buildings and so have the old brick buildings incorporated. The owners of the Marlands tried to rename it a few years ago to 'The Mall' only to be met with outrage from the people of Southampton who demanded it remain 'The Marlands'. Which is a superb piece of local history - 'Marlands' derives from 'Mary's Lands' – the Marlands is built on the site of the lands of the Hospital of Mary Magdalene, Southampton's mediæval leprosy hospital (lepers were forbidden from entering the city, which is why it is north of the Bargate).

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"(I was there on the day that it opened and, when the mayor was declaring it open, threw a paper aeroplane from the top of the concourse during his speech)."



Ah, Marlands - yes I enjoyed it in there because it was modern and accessible but in a quirky way. Fascinating that even names aren't safe from being made generic - salute to Southampton for reclaiming that slice of local history