SOUTHAMPTON will still be a better place to shop than south coast rival Portsmouth despite fresh competition from a £350m development, experts say.

Latest national league tables show Southampton in ninth position as a shopping destination, one spot behind Brighton, while Portsmouth lags behind in 81st spot.

But during a public inquiry into Portsmouth's new Northern Quarter scheme, planning consultants claimed the development would push the city into the top 20.

The Northern Quarter is set to be completed by 2010, and will include more than 80 new shops, a John Lewis department store and a large Marks and Spencer.

Consultants said they expected Portsmouth to gain ground in the Venuescore list, an annual survey compiled by Javelin Group, which ranks the UK's top 2,000 retail venues including town centres, stand-alone malls, retail warehouse parks and factory outlet centres.

It rated Portsmouth's flagship Gunwharf Quays as the third best factory outlet centre.

Southampton city centre manager Ian Rothwell, pictured right, said the city "punches above its weight when comparisons are made with larger city centres".

He noted the threat from the Northern Quarter to Southampton's supremacy in a recent report.

In its literature Southampton City Council still refers to a 2003 survey by Experian which ranked Southampton as the seventh best shopping destination in the UK.

The survey has not been updated.