southofthesea was created in 2013 when the Valencia filter was king and skinny jeans were still acceptable. It was born out of a desire to quietly clap back at the people who'd proudly say Portsmouth is a 'shit hole.'

I (Faith, hi👋) was born in Portsmouth, but my family moved to Spain when I was 10. When it came time for Uni in 2012, I decided to return to Portsmouth. I spent my first year in a little uni bubble, barely leaving the Guildhall area, but as the purple (Wednesday) haze lifted, I started to appreciate what Portsmouth and Southsea had to offer more and more.

Back then, there weren't many Instagram accounts dedicated to Portsmouth, and I'd mainly share pretty Vista pictures and stories of fun things to do. I'd also share other people's imagery on stories, and over the six years, I managed to amass over 15k followers, which was mad! But life got busy, and I couldn't afford the time the account was taking up. In addition, my partner and I were at a bit of a crossroads in life. Should we settle down and try to buy a house, or should we do something exciting? We chose the latter and decided to move to Canada for two years. So that was that southofthesea was on pause, and off we went to the Rockies.

Unfortunately, that irritating global pandemic cut our two years in Canada short. So there we were back in Portsmouth, at my parents' house. My brother was there too as he'd moved out of London. I'd worked with my brother on and off for years; he had started a digital marketing agency, and I'd do things like copywriting and social media management for him. But it was during COVID that we properly started working together and pushing the agency. We'd often discuss what we could do with southofthesea. Should we revive it? What would that look like? But life was busy, and it was hard to feel inspired. That brings us to now.

We've got big plans for southofthesea, but first and foremost, we want to bring you great content that celebrates what Portsmouth and Southsea has to offer & some cool Souvenirs & Merch.

The city has changed so much since 2013, and it's really exciting to be out and about creating content again. This time, it's not just pretty vistas. We want to really showcase all the great things about the city because, as the comment section has already proven, people still think Portsmouth is a shit hole...and objectively, it's just not...