ABOUT US

In 2023 we celebrated being open for 25 Years. Watch the short documentary-film by our very own filmmaker Sam Newton-Matthes below!

Having spent much of her life living and working all over the world, founder Gill first saw the idea of a pottery painting shop in America. It was 1998, the sun was shining, the Spice Girls were living their dream, and with a keen interest in psychology and the power that art had when it came to soothing the soul, she felt it was time for a change, and what could be better than her very own pottery painting cafe?

Twenty-one years on, and during the many covid lockdowns, then-manager and employee of 4 years Fern was considering her future as a freelance illustrator, and, upon realising she wanted to foster a similar creative space as Gill had, took on the studio in December 2021 and has been finding her feet since, inspired by Gill’s teachings.

At The Painting Pottery Cafe our aim is making pottery accessible to everyone. We offer painting and making experiences suitable for anyone - whether you haven’t picked up a paintbrush since school, or you are an artist who wants to try out something new.

We’re also an inclusive environment where we always do our best to adapt to meet the needs of anyone who wants to come along and get creative. This includes families, couples, parents and babies, hen parties, children’s parties, first dates, team building groups, adult birthday parties, schools - together we do our best to make sure everyone feels welcome and at home.

The team can’t wait to welcome you in for a creative experience! Our team is made up of potters Chelle, Freya, Al, and Saz, artists Polly, Amy, and Emily, musician Martha, and filmmaker Sam (they’re all skilled pottery painters too!). As a team of young, creative people, you will always be met with enthusiasm, professional help, and a positive can-do attitude! Please take the time to leave us a good TripAdvisor review, it means the world to us!

Our ethics

We are a living wage employer and take the welfare of our staff very seriously.

Any scrap clay from making sessions gets recycled in a process called reclaiming clay, meaning it can be endlessly used.

We avoid washing any extra paint away down the sink, and instead recycle it into new custom underglaze colours.

We recycle as much as possible using Recorra, including paper, card, plastics, metals, and coffee grounds.

Where possible we order products with as little packaging as possible.

We reuse packaging to wrap customer pottery for post, and our friends down the road at Infinity Foods provide lots of reused packing peanuts and boxes for us to use!

We sell heavy duty, ethically made (stylish!) totes for you to take your pottery home in.

We don’t throw away pottery, if it’s unpainted but damaged we’ll leave it on our doorstep and people love to take it home for crafty projects, or if it’s painted but never collected then we donate it to charity so it can have a new life.

We support local businesses as suppliers for our coffee, packaging, cakes etc.