Art, culture and nightlife in Portsmouth

When you join us in Portsmouth, you'll discover a seaside city with a buzzing creative community, a year-round calendar of cultural festivals, art exhibitions and workshops, and great nightlife.

Whatever you're into – whether you're looking to meet people with similar interests, explore the local art and culture in our historic city, or have a great night out with new friends – you'll find a place to do it in Portsmouth.

Portsmouth's ready to welcome you

Things are getting back to normal in the city, but some places still have their own covid restrictions. So it's best to check directly with businesses to confirm what activities and services are available.

University of Portsmouth graduate show gallery image

Art

The city has several art galleries and hosts regular arts and crafts festivals where you can discover local artists and buy their work, or exhibit your own. Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry studied at Portsmouth, and there's still a strong artistic community in the city.

Art galleries

Home to new, contemporary and more traditional art, find out more about some of the main galleries in Portsmouth, including:

You can catch a train to the centre of London from Portsmouth in less than 90 minutes, where you'll find hundreds of galleries – including the Tate Britain, the Saatchi Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, and many smaller galleries.

Explore Aspex Portsmouth Art Gallery

Supporting artists and creativity in Portsmouth

A contemporary art gallery located in Gunwharf Quays.

Aspex is Portsmouth's contemporary art gallery.

We've been in the city since 1981, established by artists, recent graduates and staff of the University of Portsmouth.

I come in quite often of friends and, you know, nice aesthetic here, quite relaxed vibes.

Whatever subject one's studying at university, there's always a lot to draw from contemporary art.

I do think Aspex gallery is unique to Portsmouth.

I don't think other cities have got quite what Portsmouth has to offer.

There's a lot of stuff to do.

It's just a beautiful city.

It's like nowhere else.

Creative workshops

Enjoy creative art workshops in venues across the city, cooking classes in our independent stores and drama classes in our Victorian theatres.

At the University, we run workshops and creative short courses you can sign up for outside of your studies. These could include Introduction to Drawing, Painting with Acrylics, Mobile Videography, Paeloart, Acting Fundamentals and Letterpress Printing. Keep an eye on our short courses to see what you could do when you're here.

Make sure to look at the societies run by the Students' Union for any student-led groups that offer workshops. You can join the Photography Society, the Script Reading society or set up your own arts and crafts group. Workshops available in the city include:

Arts and crafts

Artypotz – paint your own ceramic shop
Chris Wood – experimental life drawing workshops
James Mouland – paper marbling art classes
Let's Paint Pompey – painting events
The Makers Guild – makers events
Michelle Gibbs – artist and art tutor
Omega Printmakers – printmaking and paint workshops
Paint Chill Co – painting events
Repair Cafe Portsmouth – mending event
Seeded – crochet and knitting workshops
Stampin Squirrels – monthly papercraft workshops
Strong Island Photography Walkshops – photo workshops

Cooking

Bread Addiction – sourdough bread making classes
Southsea Deli – workshops including filled pasta making, Asian street food, Greek souvlaki and Indian street food

Theatre

Groundlings Theatre – drama school
New Theatre Royal – weekly acting classes

Culture

Both the city and the University are home to people of all cultures, who bring their passion for different pursuits to Portsmouth – so whether you're interested in Ghanaian fashion, Bengali music or comic book culture from around the world, you can take your interest further here.

Student-led cultural groups

When you study with us, you can join as many student-led groups as you like. These include cultural societies like the Cinema Society, Book Club or the Harry Potter Society and national groups including the Bengali Society, the Czechoslovakian Group, or the Afro-Caribbean Society. If you don't find a society based on your interests, you can always start your own when you arrive at University.

Cultural festivals

As well as music festivals, Portsmouth hosts cultural festivals throughout the year in celebration of food, community, art and history. Cultural festivals held throughout the year include:

Black History Month

During October each year, we run public events to celebrate Black History Month and to promote knowledge of black history, culture and heritage, and positive black contributions to British society. See previous programmes.

Black History Month Film Festival
The annual Black History Month Film Festival takes place in October. We run it in partnership with the Portsmouth Film Society to promote black filmmakers to a wider audience. Films featured free to staff and students in 2020 included Harriet, Queen and Slim, and White Riot.

Comic Con

Comic Con is an annual celebration of comic books and pop culture held at Portsmouth Guildhall. In 2019, our students shared their work in subjects such as virtual reality, robotics, storytelling and design.

Darkfest

Darkfest is an annual festival bringing together artists, writers, performers, academics, storytellers and musicians to explore ghost stories, urban legends, crime, horror and hidden histories.

Festival of Culture

We hold an annual Festival of Culture to celebrate our international community. The festival includes guest talks, film screenings, and experiences from around the world such as Chinese calligraphy, Iranian music, Ghanaian fashion, Arabic coffee and Cuban salsa.

Food festivals

Portsmouth hosts various food festivals throughout the year, including the Hampshire Street Food Awards, regular vegan festivals and the annual Southsea Food Festival.

Guildhall Games Fest

Guildhall Games Fest celebrates 40-years of gaming through board games, retro games and VR experiences. Festival staff can show you how to play new and retro games and consoles and you can also compete in festival tournaments to be the Games Fest Champion.

Journeys Festival International

In October, Portsmouth hosts Journeys Festival International – a celebration of the creative talents of refugee and asylum seeker artists – who share their experiences through live music, artist-led workshops, theatre, films, discussions, exhibitions and storytelling.

LGBTQ+ Film Festival

Run by Portsmouth Film Society, the annual LGBTQ+ Film Festival raises awareness of matters affecting the LGBT+ community and promoting their welfare, and shares the history, lives and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people through film.

Oktoberfest Portsmouth

Oktoberfest Portsmouth is a weekend hosted by the Guildhall filled with traditional Bavarian entertainment, food and drink – including German sausages, pretzels and 2-litre steins of beer.

PortsFest

PortsFest (previously Portsmouth Festivities) is an annual showcase of the theatre, film, art and music on offer in the city that has been running for over 20 years.

Portsmouth Pride

Portsmouth Pride, the city's biggest celebration to our LGBTQ+ community, takes place annually in June with performances from local musicians, drag performers and the Portsmouth Pride Youth Society (PPYS).

Tattoo Fest

Portsmouth Tattoo Fest brings more than 70 talented tattoo artists to the city from around the country. Get a new tattoo, listen to live bands and watch rival artists compete for the best tattoo in various themes.

Victorian Christmas Festival

The family-friendly Victorian Christmas Festival takes place every year in the Historic Dockyard with a Christmas market, Victorian choirs, Christmas food and circus performers.

University of Portsmouth students at Dockyard museum

Museums

You can visit museums about our literature, our natural history, and our history as the home of the Royal Navy. Museums in the city include:

Historic Dockyard

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is a collection of Naval charities and museums including the National Museum of the Royal Navy, the Mary Rose Trust, the HMS Warrior Preservation Trust Ltd and the HMS Victory Preservation Company.

HMS Victory was completed and launched in 1765 and served as Lord Nelson's Flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar. The Mary Rose was first launched in 1511 as a warship of King Henry VIII. After she sank in the Solent in 1545, she wasn't discovered until 1971, and salvaged from the water in 1982.

The D-Day Story

The D-Day Story tells the story of the Normandy Landings. D-Day was the largest invasion ever assembled by allied troops and the D-Day Story is home to over 10,000 items of significance from the Normandy Landings and the people that were part of it. The museum also hosts the Overlord Embroidery, an 83-metre long embroidery piece commissioned by Lord Dulverton in 1968. It took 5 years to stitch.

Portsmouth Museum

Portsmouth Museum gives you an idea of what it was like to live in Portsmouth at different times in history. Galleries include 'Living in Portsmouth,' 'No Place Like Pompey' and 'Portsmouth at Play'.

You can also visit Portsmouth Museum to find out more about Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle lived in Portsmouth, and a plaque is on the wall of Bush House on Elm Grove, the site of his former home.

Cumberland House Natural History Museum

Portsmouth's Natural History Museum displays a selection of items from a collection of over 114,000 natural science specimens. These specimens have been collected from across the South Coast of England and further afield and are now on show as part of the A to Z of Natural History Exhibit.

If you visit between May and September, you can also experience the Butterfly House in season.

Charles Dickens Birthplace

As he wrote so much about industrial London, few people know that Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth and you can visit his birthplace. The museum includes 3 furnished rooms and a small collection of memorabilia. The museum is open between April and September.

Southsea Castle

Built by King Henry VIII, Southsea Castle was an active military base for over 400 years and is also home to Southsea's iconic lighthouse. The castle is open to visitors throughout the spring and summer months, but the restaurant and cafe in the grounds of the castle are open all year round.

Eastney Beam Engine House

The Eastney Beam Engine House is a Grade II listed Victorian engine house that dates from 1887. The house is open on specific dates throughout the year and admission is free.

Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth, lit up at night

Nightlife in Portsmouth

Portsmouth has late-night cafes and gelaterias, and more pubs per square mile than any other city in the UK. The oldest is The Dolphin in Old Portsmouth – open since 1716.

Pubs, bars and clubs

If you're starting your night out or looking for a quiet night at the pub, you'll find most pubs around the Guildhall, Osborne Road, Palmerston Road and Albert Road. A few of the pubs on Albert Road stay open until 2.00am on the weekends, and others have free pool tables during the week or happy hours in the evenings.

Gunwharf Quays is the place to go for cocktail bars or nightclubs, and Guildhall Walk is also a popular night out destination for students. Many of the clubs and bars along the walk have dedicated student nights. The walk is also close to Pryzm on Commercial Road, the largest nightclub in the city.

The centre of campus is home to Hampshire Boulevard (HB), Portsmouth's premier LGBTQ+ bar and nightclub. HB also has a host of resident drag queens who run weekly student nights, bingo nights, cabaret and kareoke.

Explore Dice board game lounge

Combining board games with great food and drink

Hear from owner, Rikki Parsons, and local students on why they love Portsmouth and the Dice board game lounge.

We're a very unique venue.

There's nowhere else in the city that offers the same mix of board games and role-playinggames that we do.

We've got lots of space so we can accommodate lots of them as well.

They do a student discount on the entry fee to come in, and they also do like a daytime real deal.

So what you do is you can come and get a drink, something to eat and then also play a board game.

So it's quite popular with students.

It's really good fun.

I think the big appeal is that it's not just about coming in to get a drink.

It's two-three hours that you can spend with your friends and have a really good time socially.

I also like to think that we do really good food and drink alongside the games.

Combine that with the events that we run, and it gives kind of things to do during the week.

I think we're really inclusive venue.

We have taken loads of steps to make sure that people feel comfortable.

On Tuesdays, they do a Dungeons at Dice night.

So we come down, and we meet a load of other people that are also playing Dungeons and Dragons.

It's brilliant fun.

And the city is just an incredible place.

I couldn't see myself living anywhere else.

Comedy

If you want an alternative night out, or have a few jokes of your own to tell, comedy nights take place all over the city.

The Portsmouth Guildhall hosts Laugh Out Loud comedy nights at least once a month and you can also attend comedy nights at the Spinnaker Tower. The Wedgewood Rooms has its own Comedy Club and hosts big comedy names throughout the year along with other theatres in Portsmouth.

Cinema

While the cinema can seem like an expensive night out, you can get tickets for the latest releases at Vue Cinema in Gunwharf for less than £6. For a unique experience, you can see movies at No. 6 Cinema for just £5 if you're under 25. The 275 seat cinema is in a Grade II listed boathouse in the Historic Dockyard, built in 1846.

A few times a year, you'll also get the chance to attend outdoor sunset screenings of popular movies run by the Portsmouth Film Society.

Theatres

Groundlings Theatre is the newest theatre company in Portsmouth. It was opened in 2010 but the Georgian building the company chose as their theatre was built in 1784. As well as a programme of shows throughout the year, you can visit the building itself for a theatre tour.

Portsmouth has 2 Victorian Grade II-listed theatres that host touring plays, musicals, stand-up comedians and bands. The Kings Theatre on Albert Road opened in 1907 and the New Theatre Royal in Guildhall Walk has been active since 1884.

Discover the New Theatre Royal

A 160-year-old theatre in the heart of Portsmouth

Students can enjoy £10 ticket deals to dance, drama, musicals and community shows.

The New Theatre Royal was originally built on the site of the Lamport Hall, which was a sports hall back in the early 1900s.

We do a range of dance, drama, musicals, community shows where we have people in that run dance schools, and we have quite a large range of stand up comedians as well.

What I love about the New Theatre Royal is that I get to come here with all my friends.

It's a nice social space.

And they also offer a student deal for £10 tickets, which is nice to have a discounted price for us students.

I really love this building.

It's just beautiful.

There are so many places in this building where you could just stand and look, and there's something that you've not seen before.

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