Ashurst, Hampshire

Ashurst has three pubs; 'The Happy Cheese', 'The Forest Inn' and 'The New Forest Hotel'. A pub named 'The Angry Cheese' used to be located opposite The Happy Cheese, across the road, which became a hairdressers and was eventually demolished to make way for new houses. The original Happy Cheese was a small hotel and restaurant owned by Micheal Leonard. It burned down in 1980 and was rebuilt as the current Happy Cheese pub several years later. In June 2010, The Forest Inn closed after the business went into liquidation. However, it reopened on 12 November 2010 under new management following total refurbishment.

There are five restaurants along the main road through Ashurst. These are: 'The Jumbo House' Chinese and English takeaway, the 'Little Friar' fish and chip shop, the 'Herb Pot Bistro' (serving many cuisines), The 'Asha' Indian and Bangladeshi restaurant and takeaway, and 'Tuck In' cafe/takeaway. There is also a boutique clothing and accessories shop, The Dressing Room, a vet, an upholsterer, a hair salon, a car accessories shop and a car dealer. The post office closed at the end of January 2019.

There is also a Welcome food store, part of the Co-operative chain, located further along the main road towards Colbury.

There are two schools in Ashurst, Foxhills Infant School and Foxhills Junior School. Foxhills Infant School teaches pupils between the ages of four and seven and as of May 2011 had in total 210 pupils on roll. It shares its grounds with Foxhills Junior School, where many of the Infant School pupils progress onto. The Junior School was opened as a middle school in September 1977 when the buildings and facilities of the original Junior School, which had been established ten years previously, were substantially enlarged and extended to provide for the 8–12 middle school age range. In 1993, it became a Junior School once again taking in children aged between 7 and 11. The school had around 332 children on roll in September 2010 and the current Headteacher is Andrew Shore. The majority of pupils come from the neighbouring Foxhills Infants School, Eling Infants School or Hazelwood First School. In its most recent Ofsted inspection report in 2010, it received a Grade 2 (good).[4]

Both schools enjoy a 16-acre site with large playgrounds and many resources, including a 6-acre nature reserve with a pond. The reserve, during the last few years, has benefited from a £22K grant from the Millennium Heritage Fund which allowed construction paths and access routes for year-round use. The whole school building area is protected by CCTV and a private patrol company.[5]

Also on the same site is Ashurst Pre-School that currently takes 86 children from two years nine months to five years on roll.

During secondary school, most children enroll in Hounsdown, two villages across in Totton.

Ashurst is well served by transport links, the largest being the Ashurst railway station, run by South West Trains. The line runs from London Waterloo to Weymouth. Ashurst is also on the Bluestar 6 Bus Route (recently replacing the Wilts and Dorset's 56/56A route) that runs from Lymington to Southampton.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ashurst, Hampshire.

• Ashurst and Colbury Parish Council
• Foxhills Infant School
• Foxhills Junior School