10 reasons why being based in Southampton is great for business

‘City of the Year’, ‘Port of the Year’, ’one of the best places in the UK to live and work’, are all accolades that have been awarded to the city of Southampton over the past year.

Here at Carswell Gould we’re proud to be located in the heart of such a great city, and our clients love visiting us here too. We not only work with clients in the city and on the south coast, but we’re also ideally located to offer great service and results to businesses in London and the rest of the UK.

So, we thought we’d share with you some of our favourite things about Southampton. But don’t just take our word for it, come and visit us.

Here are 10 reasons why you should:

We’re closer than you think

Did you know that Southampton is closer to London Waterloo than Oxford, Birmingham and Cambridge? The direct train from the capital takes just 1 hour 20 minutes and the Carswell Gould office is a short walk from the station once you arrive. Two major motorways, the M3 and M27, connect Southampton to the rest of the UK. Ferry services also link the city directly with the Isle of Wight and we are less than 100 miles from mainland Europe.

We have an international airport

Southampton Airport prides itself on providing an easy and efficient service for its customers. The airport serves 1.77million leisure and business passengers a year and over 20 airlines and tour operators make it easy to travel between Southampton and the rest of the UK and Europe.

We value education

Southampton is home to two universities and a number of leading colleges resulting in some excellent talent in the city, including a number of graduates now working at Carswell Gould.

The University of Southampton is ranked among the top 1% of universities worldwide and is the premiere maritime university in the UK. Southampton Solent University offers industry-focused degrees, apprenticeships and foundations. City College Southampton has undergone a £48m investment in new facilities and equipment, allowing students to learn and work in real life working environments using industry standard equipment.

The businesses here are creative and innovative

Southampton has a strong and positive business community. Large companies located in Southampton include Ageas, Ordnance Survey, PWC, Carnival and DP World. Small and innovative businesses are also well supported here with facilities such as the University of Southampton Science Park.

Carswell Gould is proud to be an active member of the business community. We are well connected within the city and we are passionate about helping the businesses, both located here in Southampton, but also working with the city, to thrive and grow.

We love the water

It goes without saying that given our location, we have a strong connection to the sea. The UK’s most efficient container terminal is at the Port of Southampton, along with four state-of-the-art cruise terminals serving over 1.8million passengers every year.

25 marinas can be found across the Solent region and the annual Southampton Boat Show attracts over 100,000 visitors annually.

We’re located between two national parks

We’re a city of thriving industry located between two stunning national parks. To our west lies the New Forest, a landscape of 140,000 acres of ancient woodland. To our east the South Downs National Park rolls from Hampshire into West Sussex.

The sun shines more here, honestly it does

Ok, so we can’t guarantee that it never rains here (otherwise how would those national parks stay so green?), but Southampton does enjoy an average of 32.5 hours of sunshine a week, compared with the UK average of 26.4 hours.

We love sport

Fans of the beautiful game enjoy Premiership matches at St Mary’s stadium, home of Southampton FC. World class cricket is played regularly at the Ageas Bowl just outside our city.

We host great events

As well as the internationally renowned Boat Show in Southampton, the city also hosts a variety of leisure and business events. These include the ABP Half Marathon, the Common People music festival and Seawork International, Europe’s largest commercial marine and workboat exhibition.

We’re a city of history and culture

Southampton’s internationally renowned art gallery houses an impressive art collection, spanning six centuries of European art history, and the city’s Mayflower Theatre is the south’s major venue for large-scale touring musicals, opera and ballet. The Titanic’s voyage from Southampton is remembered in the city’s SeaCity Museum.