Guild House - Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated 120 kilometers (75 mi) south-west of London and 30 kilometers (19 mi) north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest.

Significant employers in Southampton include the BBC through Radio Solent and South Today, the NHS and one of the largest commercial ports in Europe.
The city is home to the longest surviving stretch of medieval walls in England as well as a number of museums such as Tudor House Museum, which is currently undergoing extensive restoration and improvement, Southampton Maritime Museum, God's House Tower, an archaeology museum about the city’s heritage and located in one of the tower walls, the Medieval Merchant's House and Solent Sky, which focuses on aviation. A Titanic Memorial Museum is planned.

The annual Southampton Boat Show is held in September each year, with over 600 exhibitors present. It runs for just over a week at Mayflower Park on the city's waterfront, where it has been held since 1968. The Boat Show itself is the climax of Sea City, which runs from April to September each year to celebrate Southampton's links with the sea.

The largest theatre in the city is the 2,300 capacity Mayflower Theatre, which has hosted West End shows such as Les Misérables, The Rocky Horror Show and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as regular visits from Welsh National Opera and English National Ballet. There is also the Nuffield Theatre based at the University of Southampton's Highfield campus, which provides a venue for the Nuffield Theatre Company, touring companies, and local performing societies such as Southampton Operatic Society, The Maskers and The University Players.

There are many innovative art galleries in the city, including the City Art Gallery at the Civic Centre, the Millais Gallery at Southampton Solent University and The Art House in Above Bar Street. The city's Bargate is also an art gallery run by the arts organisation "a space". A space also run the Art Vaults project, which creatively uses several of Southampton's medieval vaults, halls and cellars as venues for contemporary art installations.