Beach vibes at Southampton's Seaside in the Square

Seaside in the Square brings sand, sun and cocktails to Guildhall Square thanks to Go! Southampton‘s* new summer beach extravaganza.

Orange Rooms, Sam FM, Ikea, Decathlon, City Eye and a whole host of other companies have joined together to offer over 100 free events until 22 August 2018.

And, I am there with bells on…

Yoga, open air cinema, beach sports and parties are just a few of the wonderful things on the line up over the next few weeks. I am so excited that this is going to be in central Southampton, I love pop up events like this – it looks like it’s going to be SO much fun! What’s even better is that it’s free, yes FREE!

I joined the Southampton Bloggers, Go! Southampton and Orange Rooms for an exclusive first look around the pop up attraction, a sneak peek before the square launches to the public.

Orange Rooms gave us a warm welcome with a bit of cocktail making and we were encouraged to explore the sandy space before the start of the VIP and press event later that evening.

I was on it immediately, my flip flops came straight off and I couldn’t resist digging my toes in the soft silky sand while basking in the late afternoon sun. After a day at work it was so relaxing.

My Mum loves travelling and always tells me to look up when we’re out and about or somewhere new. So I did exactly that. I love the contrast of the angular city buildings with the sand and bright deck chairs, it’s such a vibrant injection of colour to the space that’s usually stone white!

Plenty of deck chairs and bean bags make the space look like a beach club!

The layout is fairly simple, there’s a large patch of sand with space for sports and dancing in front of the stage and a separate area for lounging. Then, around the outside there are traders like Fat Face, Ikea’s beach hut area and the Orange Rooms’ bar.

Fat Face and other traders will have beach huts selling items!

The Ikea huts are particularly fab, with a specific design in each, they are going to be the perfect place to cosy up with a cocktail while the sun goes down.

Speaking of cocktails…

We each took it in turn to shake up our own drinks, a twist on a classic mojito while a lovely bartender from Orange Rooms told us the recipe.

Getting ready to shake it up and create some cocktails!

The end result was a vanilla and passionfruit infusion which added a real punch of flavour to the classic Mojito. If you visit you’ll have to try one or, the drink of the moment, an Aperol Spritz!

There’s an awful lot more beach fun to be had including games and face-in-hole photo’s like you’d expect from any traditional seaside town. We had such a good time goofing around.

I hope you like this sneak peek of Seaside in the Square and I hope it encourages you to visit if you’re living in or around Southampton. A big thanks to Go! Southampton for a very fun evening, the timetable of events looks incredible, I will be back!