Written by Paul Worrall
Hull has always been easy to underestimate, which is probably why the UK City of Culture 2017 designation hit people harder than they expected. The year of cultural investment genuinly changed what the city feels like — the Humber Street Gallery, the Ferens Art Gallery’s renewed ambition, an independent creative scene that had been quietly building along Princes Avenue and around the old town for years before anyone outside Hull was paying attention. Turner painted the estuary. David Hockney grew up in Bradford but the whole of East Yorkshire runs through his work. This is a county with serious artistic DNA and Hull is its most underrated creative city.
My only real connection to Hull comes from primary school. I was about eleven when a lad from Hull moved to Blackpool — the way kids do when their parents relocate for work — and spent the rest of that school year telling anyone who’d listen that Blackpool was nothing compared to where he’d come from. At eleven, I took that as bravado. Researching this guide thirty-odd years later, I’m genuinly starting to think he had a point. The Ferens alone would have settled the argument. Here’s what’s actually worth your time in a city I’ve still not visited but am increasingly convinced I should. If you’re planning visits to nearby cities, also check out our guides to the best art supply shops in Sheffield and the best art supply shops in York.
1. Artlink Exchange — Princes Avenue
Artlink Exchange on Princes Avenue is the kind of arts organisation that does several things simultaneously and does all of them well. Based in a refurbished former church, it operates as a community arts centre, gallery, workshop space and small shop selling independent craft items and art supplies — the kind of place that genuinly serves a local creative community rather than just extracting money from it. Workshops run throughout the year for both adults and children, the gallery hosts rotating exhibitions, and the shop element, while modest in scale, reflects a thoughtful curation of materials and maker goods rather than a generic gift shop. Reviews describe it as a wonderful business that has genuinly transformed its Princes Avenue premises into something Hull’s creative community relies on.
Visit Artlink Exchange online →
2. Art & Soul — Humber Street
Art & Soul on Humber Street is genuinly one of the more impressive independent creative retail operations in any city covered by these guides. Founded in 2019 by Jane, who started by selling her own art at craft fairs before finding the right premises and taking a leap, the shop now stocks over 20,000 pieces from more than 300 artists — and has expanded to three locations across Hull, Beverley and Leeds since opening. It’s won Hull’s Favourite Independent Shop as voted by Hull Daily Mail readers and the Best of Beverley Business Awards, which isn’t PR fluff — that’s genuine community endorsement from the people who actually shop there.
Art & Soul sits on Humber Street in Hull’s marina quarter, an area that’s become the city’s most compelling creative destination since the City of Culture investment, and the shop reflects that energy. This isn’t where you buy tubes of cadmium red — it’s where you come to see what Hull and Yorkshire’s maker community is actually producing, and to buy something that reflects genuine creative practice rather than a mass-produced gift. For artists who want to see the local scene, it’s the first stop.
3. Form Shop & Studio — Humber Street
Also on Humber Street at number 62, Form Shop & Studio is a design-led gift and art shop stocking prints, cards and homeware from artists and designers it genuinly believes in rather than pulling from a generic wholesale catalogue. The selection leans toward illustration, graphic art and locally relevant work — including Hull-specific prints and products that make it a natural stop for anyone wanting to take something of the city home with them. The shop also hosts pop-up framing weekends with the Yorkshire Framer, which is a usefully practical addition to what’s otherwise a browsing and gifting destination.
Visit Form Shop & Studio online →
4. Hull Scrapstore
I’ve featured community scrapstores in Cardiff, Coventry, Bournemouth and Exeter in these guides, and Hull’s version earns its place with the same consistent enthusiasm. A constantly changing inventory of surplus materials rescued from industry and manufacture — the kind of Aladdin’s cave of offcuts, end-of-line stock and donated surplus that serves artists, crafters, schools and community groups at genuinly minimal cost. Reviews praise the helpfulness of staff and the sheer variety of what turns up. For mixed media artists and crafters specifically, a scrapstore visit before buying anything new is always worth it — you’ll often find exactly the material you were going to order online, at a fraction of the price, while also keeping it out of landfill.
5. Hobbycraft Hull
The honest version of Hobbycraft, consistent with every city guide: not specialist, not deep in professional-grade range, but genuinly reliable for everyday art and craft consumables at fair prices. Canvases, basic paint sets, sketchbooks, seasonal kits, kids’ supplies. Does the job for restocking without ceremony. Check our Hobbycraft discount code guide before visiting.
6. The Works — Hull
The honest version of The Works, consistent with every guide: canvases, sketchpads, pencils, starter acrylic sets and colouring books at prices that make experimenting genuinly risk-free. In-person purchase only since March — The Works stopped selling online nationally then. For parents, teachers and beginners it earns its place.
Worth Visiting: Ferens Art Gallery
No guide to Hull and art would be complete without a mention of the Ferens Art Gallery. Permanently housing works by Frans Hals, Canaletto and Stanley Spencer among others, it attracted over a million visitors during Hull’s City of Culture year and has maintained a genuinly ambitious programme since. Entry is free. For any artist visiting Hull who wants to see serious work in a serious building, the Ferens is the reason to build in an extra hour.
Visit Ferens Art Gallery online →
A Note on Art Supplies in Hull
Hull’s art supplies scene is more interesting than its size and reputation might suggest — Artlink Exchange and Art & Soul in particular are genuinly distinctive entries that don’t just replicate what you’d find anywhere else. The City of Culture legacy has done real, lasting things for the city’s creative confidence, and the Humber Street quarter specifically has become something worth visiting as a creative destination rather than just a place to pick up materials. For professional-grade materials and the best current UK prices, Discount Art Supplies compares prices across all major UK retailers in real time.
