Written by Paul Worrall
Portsmouth is a city with a genuinly interesting creative identity — the naval heritage, the Spinnaker Tower, Southsea’s independent retail culture along Albert Road, a university with a proper creative arts faculty — and yet its specialist art supplies provision has taken a hit in recent years. Artifolk, which was for a long time the most comprehensive dedicated art and craft shop in the Portsmouth area, has since moved its stock to Cass Art, and Cass Art doesn’t currently operate a Portsmouth store. That’s a meaningful gap for a city this size and this culturally active.
I’m Paul Worrall. I spent nearly a decade running digital marketing for ARTdiscount, one of the UK’s largest online art retailers, and I now run Discount Art Supplies — a price comparison platform used by over 36,000 UK artists every week. I haven’t visited Portsmouth myself, though it’s always been one of those cities I mean to get to given how much history is crammed into the place. Here’s the honest picture of what’s available for artists right now. If you’re planning visits to nearby cities, also check out our guide to the best art supply shops in Southampton and the best art shops in Brighton.
1. Eldon Art Shop — University of Portsmouth
The Eldon Art Shop, based on the ground floor of the Eldon Building at the University of Portsmouth, is the most genuinly useful art materials destination in the city — a non-profit shop stocking everything from painting and drawing materials through to design and structure modelling supplies at affordable prices. It’s worth being clear about access: the shop is open to students, staff, alumni and people with educational links to the university, rather than the general public. If you’re a student, recent graduate or have any current connection to Portsmouth University, this is the first call for materials.
Alongside the shop, the university runs a Life Drawing Studio open to students, academics and the public — so if you can’t access the shop directly, the life drawing sessions are a genuinly open door into the university’s creative facilities. The lino-printing, wood-cutting and monoprinting equipment is also available for use, which makes this a considerably more interesting resource than a standard campus shop.
Visit the Eldon Art Shop online →
2. Creative Crafts — Winchester
Strictly speaking Creative Crafts is in Winchester rather than Portsmouth itself — roughly twenty miles up the M3 — but it’s the nearest genuinly comprehensive specialist art and craft shop to the city and worth making the trip for anyone wanting professional-grade materials that Portsmouth’s current retail scene doesn’t offer locally. One of the South of England’s longest-established independent art and craft retailers, Creative Crafts stocks a serious range across fine art, craft, model making and stationery. Worth checking their website for current opening hours before making the journey.
Visit Creative Crafts online →
3. Hobbycraft Portsmouth
The honest version of Hobbycraft, consistent with every city guide I write: not specialist, not deep in professional-grade range, but genuinly the most practically accessable everyday art and craft resource in Portsmouth right now given the gap left by Artifolk’s closure. Canvases, basic paint sets, sketchbooks, seasonal kits, kids’ craft supplies and everyday consumables at fair prices. For parents, teachers and hobbyists needing reliable everyday stock, it does the job.
Check our Hobbycraft discount code guide before visiting.
4. The Works — Portsmouth
The honest version of The Works, consistent with every guide I write: not specialist, not deep in range, but genuinly useful for starter sets, sketchpads, pencils and craft kits at prices that make experimenting risk-free. Worth knowing that The Works stopped selling online nationally in March, so the Portsmouth store is now in-person purchase only.
A Note on Art Supplies in Portsmouth
Portsmouth’s specialist art supply scene is thinner than a city of its size, creative heritage and university arts faculty deserves. The closure of Artifolk as an independent — its stock absorbed into the Cass Art network without a corresponding Cass Art store opening in Portsmouth — has left a gap that the current market hasn’t filled. The Eldon Art Shop serves those with university links, Creative Crafts in Winchester is worth the twenty-mile trip for serious materials, and the national chains cover everyday needs. For professional-grade materials and the best current UK prices across all major retailers, Discount Art Supplies compares prices in real time so you always find the best deal before buying anywhere — and next-day delivery from major UK art retailers makes Portsmouth as well-served online as anywhere else in the country.
