WE LOVE our maritime city, steeped in history and the place we call home.

From the bustling city centre to the luxurious Ocean Village, Southampton is an amazing place for both locals and tourists to make memories.

Here are eight things that you will only know if you are from Southampton.

A trip to Ikea is a day out

No arguments here, a trip to this humongous shop provides endless entertainment.  

From the swirling entrance into the car park making it seem like you are on a funfair ride, to the multitude of pop up dream house ideas. Hungry? No problem just pop up to the food hall for some meatballs and look out over the city .

Anywhere past Winchester is classified as North to us

Basingstoke might be in the same county as Southampton but to us, anything past Winchester is North.

Southampton rivalry with Portsmouth

We do not need to explain this one.

A pint at one of the three Wetherspoons before a Saints match is a must

A tradition we cannot wait to partake in when restrictions are ease. Is it even game day if you don’t start in Spoons?

Taking every possible measure to avoid the toll charge on Itchen Bridge

It may be the quickest route but we hate to pay. Luckily the bridge now accepts contactless payments because we have all been there with no loose change.

No one calls the Cultural Quarter the Cultural Quarter, it is simply ‘the bit by the guildhall’  or Civic Centre 

Many residents will look at tourists with confusion when they ask for directions to the Cultural Quarter.

Southampton’s few and far between celebrities

Our city may not have raised many of celebrities, but the few that grew up in our city, we love.

Craig David grew up on the Holyrood estate,he attended Bellemoor School and Southampton City College. He even gives a shout out to Southampton in his hit song 'One More Time'. And who could forget that the infamous comedian and actor Benny Hill was Southampton born and bred.

School trips to the Tudor House and Garden, Medieval Merchant's House and the city walls

If you grew up in Southampton at some point you would have taken a school trip to one of these historic locations- all three if you were lucky.