Nicholstown-Newtown (usually called Nicholstown or Newtown) is a small area to the north-east of

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...

. To the north is

Bevois Valley Bevois Valley ( ) is an inner city area of Southampton, England, within Bevois Electoral Ward, and includes areas called Bevois Town and Bevois Mount. The area lies south of and adjoins Portswood and is within easy walking distance of the ci ...

, to the east Northam and to the west and south is St Mary's. In the north of Newtown is the Mount Pleasant area, which spills over into the north of Northam. Black signs saying "Welcome to Nicholstown-Newtown

demarcate the district on the roads running east from St. Mary's Rd – hence the district is bordered on the west by St. Mary's Road, the south by Six Dials road, and the east by the railway lines. The area is formed of residential streets with a typical parade of small shops and services; the exception is its central feature,

Royal South Hampshire Hospital The Royal South Hants Hospital, known locally as "The RSH", is a community hospital in Southampton. It is managed by NHS Property Services. History The hospital was founded as the Royal South Hampshire Infirmary in 1835 and moved into its firs ...

, established in 1843–1844.

History

The Church of St Luke was constructed in Newtown in 1853 using a gift of land and money from Thomas Chamberlayne. In 1918 the area elected Southampton's first female Councilor Lucia Foster Welch. In the 1960s and 1970s, the area was notorious as Southampton's

red-light district A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex industry, sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light district ...

with high crime rates.This is Hampshire: 5 July 2004: Inner-city pride restored
Accessed 11 April 2007 Frustrated with the inaction of the city council and police, over 2,000 people marched from Derby Road to the

civic centre A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains of one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, ...

. Following this "march of neglect", the Queen visited the area and a cash injection of half a million pounds followed. However, by the 21st century, little had changed. In the year 2000 a report highlighted that the urban renewal area encompassing Nicholstown "exhibits both the highest levels of unfitness and disrepair ... in the city" and the area was still very much a red light district in 2004. Newtown Youth Centre in Graham Road (also known as Boyzy or NYC) was intended to be permanently cut on budgetary cuts in Spring 2014, providing a wide range of facilities, skills and activities to older and young people. It re-opened for the younger generations under the YMCA in Autumn 2014 The area was the subject of a controversial documentary in 2015, '' Immigration Street'', a sequel to Channel 4's series ''

Benefits Street ''Benefits Street'' is a British documentary series broadcast on Channel 4. It followed the lives of Welfare state in the United Kingdom, benefit claimants and showed them committing crimes, including a demonstration of how to shoplift, and port ...

'' based in Birmingham.

References

Areas of Southampton {{Commons category, Newtown-Nicholstown