Southampton in the spotlight: boom times ahead for Titanic's home town?

Southampton provided the departure point for the ill-fated White Star Line RMS Titanic, which set sail towards New York in April 1912 – and also furnished the majority of the crew. When the ship hit an iceberg, 500 of the 1,500 casualties were Sotonians. While this month sees the 20th anniversary of James Cameron’s blockbuster about the disaster, the city chose to formally honour the loss of lives at the centenary five years ago, with the opening of its SeaCity Museum and a calendar of commemorative events. The museum continues to educate and inform visitors regarding Southampton’s Titanic heritage and the impact of the disaster, which still reverberates quietly across this city of 250,000. The local council recently unveiled a plan to honour all victims and survivors of the disaster by installing commemorative plaques at their old residential addresses.

Sea legs

As a lucrative commercial port, Southampton has always been shaped by its maritime activities, from the docks to the annual boat show. It is currently the busiest cruise-ship terminal in the UK and the No 1 vehicle handling port, while vying with Felixstowe as the top-performing container terminal. Its deepwater quay is built to handle the biggest ships in the world. Mark Spearing, professor of engineering materials at the University of Southampton, says that the economic picture has been relatively buoyant in the past decade: “Southampton was and still is a working port city – and economically things are on an upward swing. When I moved here in 2004 there was a lot of deprivation, but things have definitely been improving since then. The city has more of a buzz.”

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Southampton in numbers

1985 Year the wreck of the Titanic was discovered by oceanographer Robert Ballard and his team

1620 Year the Mayflower sailed from Southampton via Plymouth to America carrying a group of English Puritans, also known as the Pilgrim Fathers, looking to escape religious persecution

£1bn Annual contribution of the port of Southampton to the UK economy

23,500 Students enrolled at the University of Southampton – a leap from just 5,000 in 1982

History in 100 words

The area north of Southampton Water is thought to have been inhabited since the stone age. Romans built a settlement on a bend in the river Itchen, which by Saxon times had become a successful port. Shipbuilding was an important industry during the middle ages and has continued throughout the centuries, cementing Southampton’s maritime strength. Novelist Jane Austen lived here for several years, and the city later became famous for production of the Spitfire plane and the Ford Transit van. It endured heavy bombing during the second world war, which obliterated huge numbers of buildings. Many would say the postwar reconstruction was heavier on the concrete than on architectural inspiration.

Southampton in sound and vision

The 2014 BBC documentary The Truth About Immigration gives a fascinating pre-Brexit picture of Southampton’s absorption of a large volume of migrants from overseas, with communities from Poland, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq and Bangladesh.

Once ridiculed, now fondly regarded, the don of Sotonian garage Craig David has made an unlikely career rewind.

How liveable is Southampton?

Locals often cite the major reason to live in Southampton as not the city itself but its proximity to the sea and the New Forest. Once a fashionable spa destination in the mid-18th century, these days Southampton is dogged by its reputation for being rather charmless, austere and heavy, with municipal concrete buildings and a conglomeration of uninspiring shopping areas stuffed with the usual-suspect big chains. It ranked fourth in the 2013 edition of Crap Towns. The writers scornfully proclaimed: “It’s a culture-less abyss with amenities and nightlife that make Chelmsford look like New York.” A little brutal, perhaps, and locals are quick to defend it.

Let us not forget that Southampton was pulverised by bombs during the second world war and had to be rebuilt at speed, which resulted in Soviet-style concrete and rushed planning. Spearing says: “After the war, the first reconstructed buildings were cheap and now they’re reached their end of life, so the buildings are improving.” The bombs spared parts of the medieval town walls at the Bargate, and recent uplifting developments include the Cultural Quarter, which has linked various arts venues around the renovated Guildhall Square, with theatres, art galleries, concert venues and cafes together in a cohesive cluster.

But apart from an area of dockland at Ocean Village populated with restaurants and bars, the Southampton docks have not been developed in the same manner as Bristol or Liverpool. Spearing says: “[Those cities] have done wonderful things with their docks, but that’s because theirs ceased to be relevant. The Southampton docks need to stay working as their productivity has increased.” So no former warehouses serving avocado on sourdough for the time being.

Biggest urban risk

Some of Southampton’s energy needs are met by a geothermal power station developed in the 1980s with a view to it becoming a self-sustaining city. However, far from it being a green coastal retreat, air pollution is a huge concern here. Southampton’s snarled-up roads, nearby Esso refinery, fuel-chugging cruise ships and constant flow of passenger and HGV vehicles in and out of the port ensure that the the air quality in the city is poor – a source of much worry for residents. Spearing says: “We have higher urban air pollution because of diesel cars and ship fuel – there’s a stop-start traffic flow here.” Trade by sea has boosted the local economy, but it has paid an environmental price.

What’s next for the city?

Future development is now focused on the derelict Royal Pier, which opened at the end of the 19th century, yet has languished empty and unloved for over three decades after war damage and a series of fires. Developers are keen to transform it into an area containing bars, shops, a casino, hotel and hundreds of homes. But progress hasn’t been smooth – port operators remain concerned about traffic volumes, and residents have reacted violently to plans for a multi-storey car park, calling it an “ugly monster”. The projected £450m scheme, linking the city centre to the waterfront, is due to be completed by 2023 - but there are still doubts over its viability. Done tastefully, it could be the pick-me-up Southampton needs.

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The Daily Echo, reporting since 1888, is on top of the local beat, while university rag the Wessex Scene, in print since 1936, is one of the oldest student newspapers in the country.

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