Business events in Southampton

A port city first

The port sets the tone here. Associated British Ports, which runs it, calls Southampton Europe's leading turnaround cruise port, with around three million cruise passengers a year through five terminals. It is also the UK's number one port for handling vehicles, about 600,000 a year, and has the country's second largest container terminal. ABP puts the port's contribution at 45,600 jobs and £2.5 billion a year to the national economy, and says exports worth £40 billion a year leave through it.

Much of that work goes on out of sight of the city centre: more than 100 hectares of vehicle compounds, and 23 container trains a day running inland from the terminal, by ABP's count. For a visitor, the docks mostly show up as cruise ships tied up along the waterfront.

The city itself

At the 2021 Census, the Office for National Statistics counted 249,000 people in the city, 5.1% more than in 2011, which makes it the second most densely populated council area in the South East. It is a compact place for its size. The main station, Southampton Central, is on the west side of the centre; South Western Railway runs it, with step-free access to every platform and 198 parking spaces. Coming by air or from the north, Southampton Airport Parkway is a separate station beside the airport, a few stops up the line.

Two universities are part of daily life here: the University of Southampton and Solent University. North of the city, at Chilworth, the University of Southampton Science Park has been open since 1986 and has its own meeting rooms at Axis Conference Centre. Closer in, St Mary's Stadium, home of Southampton FC, is among the rooms business events here have used.

Where the city ends

Southampton runs into its neighbours without much of a gap. Eastleigh and Chandler's Ford lie to the north, with Southampton Airport between them; Totton sits across the River Test to the west, at the edge of the New Forest; Netley and Hamble are on the eastern shore of Southampton Water. Hampshire Events groups them all in Southampton and the Solent, so an event ten minutes away may be listed under a different town.