Winter Warming Essentials - The Best 5 Jackets for Winter 2012

After waiting months for a summer that never really arrived, Mother Nature has made a statement of intent by bringing the winter weather in early.  

With the cold, wet & wind upon us, now is the right time to be thinking about your winter wardrobe.  

Up first are jackets, and these are my 5 current favourites.


1 - adidas Originals Hooded Windbreaker Jacket - £85.00

This adidas Originals hooded windbreaker jacket in Dark Royal Blue is bang on the money.  It has a full front zip fastening and elasticated hood, with four large button fastening pockets and one zip fasten pocket on the left chest.  Also on the left chest is a tone-on-tone white suede-effect logo tab giving this jacket minimal branding.  It also features a large pocket on the lower back which enables it to be folded into a pouch if need be.

This jacket fits true to size, is lightweight and comfortable and would look great with a pair of dark blue jeans & classic adidas Originals trainers, like the Gazelle OG.  

This won't be for the coldest or wettest nights, but is an absolute corker to wear to the pub & will be brilliant for wearing to the match when (or rather if!) spring comes.  It is also available in Black - but I think it looks the business in this shade of 'adidas' blue.


It is available from the goods eggs at Northern Threads priced at £85.00


2 - Fila Beta Jacket - £120.00

Yes, the 'bubble coat' (or 'Puffa Jacket' as it is sometimes known!) is back, and it is easy to see why with this lovely piece of kit from Fila. 

The Fila Beta jacket has a glossy polyester outer shell with a polyester inner lining and a down feather padding. A knitted tape detail features down the centre front placket, around the collar and hood opening. 

There is an internal faux sheepskin collar for warmth and the hood is detachable with a nylon zip. There are two jetted pockets to the front of the garment and a chunky rib knit is used at the hem and cuff. The iconic Fila 'F' badge is located on the left chest. 

This is definitely one for the colder nights & will keep out the wind and rain, whilst keeping you toasty warm and looking fantastic - without making you look like the Michelin man!  It is equally wearable over a work suit as it is with jeans & trainers.

To me, it looks best in black, but it is also available in bluey/grey colour called 'night shadow'.  It is available directly from Fila priced at a very reasonable £120.00.


3 - MA.Strum RB-1 Bomber Jacket - Reduced from £210.00 to £125.00

 

The archives of Massimo Osti have produced this fantastic RB-1 Bomber Jacket from MA.Strum.  It is a great piece at full price, but is an absolute bargain when it is as heavily reduced as this.

It has a waterproof Japanese parachute ripstop nylon outer layer and features a removable hood, a two-way zip, removable MA.Strum badge that can be worn on either the pocket, hood or on the neck (when the hood is removed), two side entry pockets and the jacket can be folded up into one pocket.  It is finished with rubber reinforced press studs. 

In my humble opinion, it looks best in this Cyprus Green colour and is available in Medium, Large & XXL.  It is also available in Mission Orange (all sizes), Sandstone Grey (all sizes), Sulphur Gold (all sizes) and Navy (all sizes).

This is very much a 'casual' jacket & should be teamed up with similar items.  I would suggest you snap this up quickly while it is reduced from £210 to £125 from Terraces Menswear who are also offering free UK postage not just on this item, but on all orders over £40.00.


4 - Stone Island Hooded Light Weight Jacket - £320.00

 

This Stone Island hooded jacket has a warm fleece lining, a light-weight (soft shell) zip front with a branded press-stud overlap, two side pockets, one press-stud breast pocket, a hidden hood and a velcro tab closure across the funnel neck.  It may be quite plain & simple, but that is what makes it look so great!

I know Stone Island's reputation hasn't been all that brilliant for the past few years, but people should spend more time looking at the clothing and less time at the people wearing it, as this jacket proves that they are still knocking out great pieces and have been getting back to their very best in recent times.

This can be worn either smart/casual or with a more relaxed jeans & trainers style.  I think it looks best in this light grey colour (available in sizes M and XL) and it is also available in black (in sizes M, L, XL, XXL and XXXL) both from Zohm Uomo who are offering free UK postage on orders over £50.00. 

5 - Vivienne Westwood Double Breasted Grey Wool Pea Coat- £499.00

It's hard to know where to start with this beautiful Pea Coat from Vivienne Westwood.  This luxury coat is double-breasted with a branded button fasten front, two front side pockets and strap details to the cuffs, it is fully lined with one inside pocket also has two back vent details.

As with most of Westwood's classic items, the detail is in the details, & this jacket looks great by doing just enough to keep it interesting, but without being too fussy.  The colour, cut and finish of this coat make it a once-in-a-lifetime purchase that you won't regret.

This is a smart jacket to be worn on more formal occasions such as for work or on a date, with smart trousers & shoes.  It is available with FREE DELIVERY from Van Mildert priced at £499.00.  It isn't cheap, but this is a jacket that will look great year after year and will last forever. 

An NUFC Fans' Guide to Southampton Away

As a Geordie who has lived in Southampton for over 7 years, I feel more than qualified to write a guide for Newcastle fans who are coming down for the away game at St. Mary’s Stadium on Sunday 25th November, so here it is!
 
I won't bother delving into too much ‘historical’ information about the place, as all the facts & figures you could want or need are on the Wikipedia page here: City of Southampton Wikipedia Page.

Whenever people ask me to describe what Southampton is like, I always say it’s like a tramp’s dog - it’s a bit scruffy & smelly & it's generally good natured, but occasionally it will bite if you provoke it!

To be fair to the place, it was quite badly bombed by the Joormans during World War II & it wasn't very sympathetically restored afterwards.  As a rough idea, the vast majority of the city centre in Southampton resembles something akin to awful 1960's architecture of Northumberland Street in Newcastle (Useless trivia alert! Did you know that Northumberland Street is the most expensive retail rental location per square foot in the UK outside of Oxford Street in London! I bet you didn't!).  

So, what can be said about Southampton?  Not a lot really!  It's not somewhere people will visit & look back on it being one of the best times of their lives - simply because you won't have the best time of your life here!  It's a bit of a 'meh' of a place really!

It's probably best for me to just stick to the essentials that NUFC fans will need to know: how to get here, hotels, food & drink and a bit about match days here.

How To Get Here - Trains, planes & automobiles!

Trains  

The quickest route (about 5 and a half hours!) from Newcastle Central to Southampton Central is via London.  Trains from London to Southampton are from Waterloo station which is 2 tubes & 25-30 minutes journey time from Kings Cross.  A word of warning though - it won't be cheap!  Expect to pay £100+.

Chances are you will arrive on either platform 3 or 4 at Southampton Central so turn left when you exit the station & you can either walk straight up the hill (about 10 minutes to the main city centre) or there is a taxi rank & bus stop right outside.

Please note that is a good half hour walk directly from the station to St. Mary's Stadium!

Planes

There are direct flights from Newcastle to Southampton with FlyBe.  It's quick (about 50 minutes flying time) & easy to get to & from the city centres at both ends.  As with the trains, flights can get expensive.

Once at Southampton Airport you have 3 choices to get into the city centre:

Taxi  -  Taxi's can be booked with Checker Cars from a booth within the airport terminal.  Just head towards the main exit straight ahead of you after you leave the arrivals hall & the booth is on the right hand side before you go through the exit doors.  It will cost you about £15-20 into the city centre.

Buses  -  Journey time to the city centre is about 35-40 minutes via the Uni-Link service.  The U1C bus service operates between Southampton Airport, Southampton University, the city centre and waterfront. It runs every 15 minutes during the week and every 20 minutes at weekends and public holidays. One bus even has on-board wi-fi internet access! (Whoop-de-do I hear you cry!).  There's also a U1A service in the opposite direction, from city to airport.  It will cost you £2 each way from the airport to the city centre & vice-versa.  The buses pick up & drop off right outside the airport terminal.

 Trains -  It takes about 60 seconds to walk from the airport terminal to Southampton Airport Parkway train station.  Simply turn left when you exit the terminal & the station is right in front of you.  The platform to the city centre is on the airport side of the station, with the platform on the opposite side (over the bridge) heading towards Winchester & London (this is the platform you would arrive on if you get the train back from the city centre to the airport on the way home).

Both South West Trains & Cross Country Trains serve the route to Southampton Central & trains run about every 10-15 minutes or so.  Journey time is about 8-10 minutes & the cost is £3.30 each way.

Automobiles

It is probably best to use either sat-nav or the AA Route Planner for your journey.  It's about 320 miles from city centre to city centre (NE1 to SO14) & on a good day it should take you about 6 hours with no stops.

Having suffered the monotony of this journey more times than I would like to remember, I would definitely recommend stopping at least once - even twice if you have the time.  

Parking

As with most towns & cities in the UK, the majority of parking is controlled by the local council & is plentiful - but isn't cheap.  As for the NCP parking, we all know you need to re-mortgage your house to use one!

The Southampton City Council guide to parking is here

The independent Parkopedia guide to parking in Southampton is here

As for free parking then there are really only two choices - the Hill Lane area of town not far from Southampton Central Station, and the Woolston area on the opposite side of the Itchen Bridge.  

The best way of deciding which to use is dependent on your pre & post match ritual.  If you are going straight to & from the game, then Woolston is probably your best bet.  Street parking is available & it is approximately a 20-25 minute walk to St Mary's Stadium over the Itchen Bridge.  The city centre is a further 15-20 minute walk from the ground.

If you are heading into town before &/or after the match, then the side streets off Hill Lane would be a better choice.  The city centre is a 20-25 minute walk from here, with the ground being a further 15-20 minute walk from the city centre.

Please note:  If you are using street parking, make an effort to take note of any signs referring to permits for the area, as they may be in force in certain locations.

Also, if you are planning to drive over the Itchen Bridge, there is a toll for doing so.  On Sundays this is 50p for cars.

Park & Ride  There is a Park & Ride facility in use just off junction 8 of the M27 and costs £8 per vehicle.  It is clearly signposted from the motorway & is located opposite a large Tesco.  It opens 2 hours before kick-off and the journey to the ground takes about 15 minutes.  Be warned though, it is very rarely used by home supporters and they have been known to close it if there aren't enough people using it.  

If you a driving into Southampton City Centre, please note that the streets around the ground are closed for an hour or two before & after the game, and traffic can be a nightmare to clear after the final whistle.

Hotels

As is the case in most towns, there is a range of hotels in Southampton.  The usual suspects - Holiday Inn, Premier Inn, Jurys Inn & Travelodge's - are all here, however there are alternatives.  The are a range of B&B's in the Hill Lane are of the town about a 10 minute walk from the train station & 15-20 minutes walk from the city centre.  For the lazy arses among you, buses are plentiful although not particularly cheap.

By far the best value though is the ETAP Hotel on West Quay Retail Park.  Staying on the Saturday night (the 24th) with 1 or 2 in a room is currently £49* - or with 3 in a room £54* in total.  Staying on the Sunday night (the 25th) with 1 or 2 in a room is currently £35* - or with 3 in a room £40* in total.  (*Prices correct at the time of writing & do not include breakfast).

The hotel is only a 10 minutes walk to the main city centre & there is a 24 hour McDonalds right next door!

Eating

All the major branded fast food outlets are here so I don't really need to mention those.  However, with the exception of the 24 hour McDonalds at West Quay Retail Park, they all close fairly early (around 10pm-ish) - even on the weekends!

For other fast food outlets, you're best heading to Bedford Place which is a street filled with kebaberies, pizzerias, Indians, Chinese's & other general post-pub greasy goodness with tastes & budgets to suit everyone - it just depends what you fancy, how drunk you are & how much you want to spend!  My own personal top 3 'proper' restaurants in the city centre would be:

Ranchos Steakhouse  -  The High Street.  Brilliant steaks, ribs & other meaty goodness - although it can be pricey depending on what you have. Expect to pay about £30 per person (not including drinks) although the quality is very good. 

Coriander Lounge  -  The High Street.  Probably the best Indian in Southampton.  Again, not cheap at about £25+ per person (not including drinks) but it's well worth the money.

Turtle Bay  -  Guildhall Square.  A fantastic Caribbean restaurant which has only been open about a year but is already very popular.  Pay about £15 for 2 courses & £20 for 3 (not including drinks).  Has the bonus of having Red Stripe on tap!

There is also a food court on the top floor of the West Quay shopping centre which is home to Costa Coffee, Harry Ramsden's, KFC, Krispy Kreme, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Pret A Manger, Starbucks, Yo! Sushi & yes, there's even a Nando's (but don't expect to get a mobile phone signal nor 3G or Wi-Fi in there!).

Drinking*

(*Please note:  This isn't a definitive guide to all the pubs in Southampton city centre - just my opinion of the main ones).
 
Now we're talking!  I'm not going to pull any punches here - Southampton is a pretty crap night out if I'm honest.  The city is home to a lot of students & most places in the city bend over backwards to accommodate them & sod the rest of the people who live here.  The best part of town to head to is the Bedford Place area.

Revolution is located on the corner of Bedford Place & Carlton Place.  I don't need to go into details as you'll know what to expect.  Don't expect the setting to be anywhere near as nice as the one in Newcastle though!

Just round the corner on Carlton Place are The Pensioners Arms (no jokes please!), The Cricketers & Seymours.  All these places are canny small so get busy - but it's well worth a visit to them as they're lively & have a decent selection of drinks available.  

90 Degrees at Carlton's is over the road from the Pensioners & the Cricketers & is where the (supposedly) good & the great of Southampton go.  That means stuck up lasses wearing too much make-up supping over-priced cocktails bought by blokes giving it the Bertie Big Bollocks with their spiky haircuts & jeans halfway around their arses.  Best avoided.

Next door to 90 Degrees is Pop World (formerly Reflex).  The 80s nightclub.  Does what it says on the tin!  Normally a canny good night out in here to be honest - not least because @PikeyNUFC is barred from here (amongst other places)!

Around the corner on Vernon Walk is Orange Rooms & Buddha Lounge.  Much of a muchness like most 'trendy' bars these days.  DJs playing awful dance music too loud & overpriced drinks are the order of the day, they get busy with young 'trendies' (or so they like to think!) on weekends.

Just along from here is the Avondale which ok - if cheap-ish scruffy student pubs are your thing.  Round the corner on London Road is Varsity which is a Yates's/Wetherspoon type place.  Ok, but not bad.  Decent grub if you're hungry.  At the other end of London Road is the Giddy Bridge - a Wetherspoons.  

Just a minute's walk from Varsity though is a gem of a pub called The Alexandra Beer Emporium.  A quirky little pub where none of the tables & chairs match, the male bar staff have wispy facial hair & the female bar staff tend to favour piercings.  A great choice of drinks (my favourite Heineken on tap!) and some weird & wonderful bits & bobs of movie and music memorabilia dotted around the place.  A pool table & a big beer garden completes the picture.  One of my favourite pubs in Southampton!

Heading into town, Above Bar is home to the usual sticky-floored fight-fest known as Yates's.  2-floors of chavs & under-dressed fat birds.....  Probably not unlike the Yates's in every town in the country!  It has a capacity of approx. 400-500 & has been deemed as the designated NUFC away pub by Southampton Police.  Chances are, match tickets will be checked by bouncers on the door to ensure away fans only are admitted.  Similarly, other pubs in the city are known to check tickets to ensure that only HOME fans gain entry - so don't be surprised if you are refused entry elsewhere.  It is approximately a 20 minute walk to St. Mary's Stadium from here, so when the time hits 2:30pm, resist the urge for another quick pint or else risk missing the kick-off!  There is a taxi rank opposite Yates's & it will take about 5-10 minutes to get near to the ground (most of the roads around the ground are closed on match days so you won't get dropped right outside) and it shouldn't cost much more than £5-6.

The over-priced Slug & Lettuce and Que Pasa are a couple of doors down from Yates's.  Further down on the High Street is Wahoo*.  It used to be a Walkabout pub & nothing much has changed aside from the name.  That means crap beer in plastic glasses served as slowly as possible by people who look like they've just won a 'face like a slapped arse' competition. (*I have since been told that Wahoo has closed down. It's no loss!)

Over the road from Wahoo is a little bar called Oasis.  It's ok-ish & has DJs at the weekend.  Next door to this is For Your Eyes Only.  Just saying!  I take no responsibility for however you choose to use this information!

Out of town is the pub I work in - & which is also my local watering hole - The Swan.  It is located on Portsmouth Road in Woolston approx. 2 miles from St. Mary's Stadium.  The number 3, 4, 5 and 6 buses run between the city centre & the pub taking 10-15 minutes each way & costing about £3 return.  Sholing train station is a 3 minute walk away & trains run from Southampton Central at 44 minutes past the hour every hour, and return at 22 minutes past the hour every hour costing £3.70 return and taking about 15 minutes.

I've drunk in a great many pubs in my time, & The Swan is almost unique in the mix of people that drink there harmoniously!  It is known locally as a bikers pub, but that is really only on a weekend & depending on which band is playing.  Having said that, the bikers that come in (mostly on a Sunday afternoon) are a top bunch of lads who would give you their last £1 coin.  There are people from every walk of life, not just mixing together but getting on together too creating a friendly and relaxed-yet-lively atmosphere and there is always banter flying about between the customers - and the staff...!!

On draught there is McEwans Cold Lager (£3), Fosters (£3.30), Kronenbourg (£3.65), John Smith's (£3.25), Strongbow (£3.50), Guinness (£3.60) and 2 real ales (changeable - although Bombardier and Directors are usually our standard real ales) at £3.45.  Bottles are £3.40 and we stock Heineken, Amstel, Desperados, Smirnoff Ice, WKD, etc - although Newcastle Brown Ale is £3.60!  We also sell all 4 flavours of Bulmers cider at £3.95 per bottle.  Yep, £3.95!  We have the usual pool table, juke box & darts, and live bands on Friday & Saturday nights (9pm-11pm) and Sunday afternoons (usually 4pm-7pm but they play 5pm-8pm when Saints are at home).

Working there is one thing, but I wouldn't drink there too & put my wages back in the till if it wasn't a decent boozer!  NUFC fans are more than welcome to visit all weekend - although I will be on the customer side of the bar the entire time!

Cavorting

In all honesty, I'm not really one for clubbing so I won't bother going into too much detail - if for no other reason that I don't know anything about the clubs in Southampton!

Oceana is the largest nightclub in Southampton and is located at Leisureworld on West Quay Road.  I haven't been there in about 5 years and it has been refurbished since my last visit.  

Their website says "Oceana Southampton nightclub is a multi-room destination venue offering you a number of unsurpassable [sic] experiences over three floors. Every room is styled to reflect iconic destinations from around the world making it one of the largest nightclub capacities in the country!"  Yay.

I mentioned Pop World at Bedford Place earlier, & there is also a Flares-type club on Above Bar Street called Revival.  You know what to expect!  Opposite Revival is a pub/club called Provenance Night Club (formally the Square Balloon).  If the Balloon was anything to go by, it will be crap.  Expect to see local charva's squaring up to each other & tacky hen parties.

At the risk of repeating myself, For Your Eyes Only is located on the High Street.  Again, I am just saying, and I take no responsibility for however you choose to use this information!

Match Day in Southampton!

First of all, if you were to walk through Southampton city centre on a home match day, you would be hard pressed to even know there is a game on!  Honestly, there is hardly any difference between a normal day & a match day.  Sure, a couple of pubs may be a little bit busier before the match, but that's about it!

Southampton FC has a lot of 'scarfers' who go to games.  You know the ones, dad with his young son, sometimes the whole family - all resplendent in the latest home shirt (usually with awful customised shirt printing on the back), a packed lunch & yes, red & white striped scarves.  There are LOADS of this lot around.  I am fairly confident that you won't see more scarfers at an away game all season - maybe with the possible exception of Reading & Norwich.....

Southampton doesn't have a 'firm' as such - although there is a group of 20-somethings calling themselves the "Chandlers Ford Forty" who knock around on a match weekend.  I've only seen them in action personally once, when they battered half a dozen Preston lads sat having lunch in a pub on a Sunday - the day AFTER the game.....

That's not to say that Southampton aren't up for it.  They were quietly notorious back in the day - although they were overshadowed by the more active Portsmouth 657 Crew.  The furthest north they ever really ventured was to Sheffield Wednesday & Middlesbrough (where they reportedly gave a good account of themselves) and they were known to be very well respected by Everton's County Road Cutters in the 1980's after they took their home pub just around the corner from Goodison Park!  Trust me, not many firms were brave enough to even attempt such a thing back then - let alone do it!

It is highly doubtful you will get any trouble off the home support - but as with all away games, that depends on how you behave yourself..!  If you want trouble you will be able to find it, but generally the locals are a peaceful bunch. 

One thing of note about Southampton fans is that they are shamelessly arrogant.  Even when they were in the Championship & Division 1, they had a level of cockyness that would make even a ManYoo fan blush!  No word of a lie, there is a majority of their fans who STILL think they will go on a run & qualify for Europe!  I'm not kidding either!  There are a few decent ones out there, but generally they are arrogant on a level that will leave you speechless!

As with all away days, Southampton will be as good (or as bad!) as you want to make it, & of course, a lot of that depends on the result...!!

If anyone has any questions, needs any advice or fancies a pint while they're down here, give me a shout.  Have a safe journey & a good time!!