Where to eat in Southampton the night before your cruise

Oxford Street: the restaurant row

Five minutes’ walk from the Ocean and QEII terminals and most of the big hotels, Oxford Street is a short Victorian terrace that has become the city’s dining strip. Oxford Brasserie does modern European cooking and a good set menu; Ennio’s is an Italian with rooms upstairs in a converted warehouse, which is handy if you want to sleep where you eat; and the White Star Tavern is a gastropub with a Titanic name, a proper roast on Sundays and bedrooms. Expect to pay £35 to £60 a head with wine. All three fill up on Friday and Saturday nights before the weekend sailings, so book a week ahead in summer and over Christmas.

Ocean Village: on the water

If your hotel is the Harbour Hotel or you simply want to look at boats, Ocean Village marina is a ten-minute walk east of Oxford Street. The rooftop HarBAR on 6th at the Harbour Hotel has the view (book a window table), and the quayside below has a row of familiar chains and a couple of independents where you can eat outside in good weather. It is the easiest option with children or if someone in the party does not want to walk far after a long flight.

The old town: pubs and brewhouses

Walk west along the waterfront to Town Quay and the Dancing Man Brewery, a brewpub inside the 14th-century Wool House with its own ales and hearty plates; it is the best pint in the city and no one minds a cruise party in coats. Up on the old walls, the Pig in the Wall is the Southampton outpost of the Hampshire hotel group of the same name, with a deli-style menu and a courtyard, and it is a short walk from the Mayflower and City terminals on the Western Docks side. For a quick, cheap and good lunch the next day before boarding, the stalls and cafes around the Bargate and High Street open from early morning.

Bedford Place: drinks after dinner

North of the Civic Centre, Bedford Place is the cocktail and late-bar street. It is lively rather than smart, and it is a 20-minute walk or a five-minute taxi from the terminals, so treat it as somewhere to finish the evening rather than start it. On a sailing night the sensible plan is one drink and an early finish: check-in windows at the terminals start around midday and the queue is shorter if you arrive at the start of yours.

Westquay and the chains

The Westquay shopping centre and its Watermark restaurant terrace have every national chain you can name and late opening, with a view of the old walls. It is not where locals go for a special dinner, but it is reliable, child-friendly and never fully booked, which makes it the fallback if you land late or the restaurants above are full.

Three things that catch people out

First, Southampton kitchens close earlier than London ones: last orders are commonly 9.30pm midweek, so a 7pm landing at Heathrow does not leave time for Oxford Street unless you pre-book a fixed-fare car and come straight down. Second, big-ship Saturdays (two or three P&O and Cunard departures the same day) put six or seven thousand extra diners in a small city, and the restaurant row sells out. Third, if you are driving and parking at the port, the parking guide explains why you should drop the bags and the car first and walk to dinner rather than drive.

For the rest of the day, the day-before guide covers hotels, the waterfront and a short Isle of Wight trip, and the Titanic trail is a three-hour walk that ends conveniently at the top of Oxford Street.

More cruise guides

• London to Southampton cruise port: a guide for US cruisers
• Things to do in Southampton the day before your cruise
• The Southampton Titanic trail: a half-day walk before your cruise
• Southampton cruise port hotels for the night before
• What time to arrive at the Southampton cruise terminal
• The five Southampton cruise terminals