The Art House Sheffield

What it’s like

Hands-on clay workshops and pottery handbuilding in a converted studio building, with a café to fuel the sticky-fingers bit.

This is a working pottery and art studio rather than a gallery you wander round in silence. Kids get stuck into clay handbuilding and workshops, and there's a clay café setup too, so it's as much about doing as looking. The building itself was redeveloped from something older into a purpose-built space back in 2015, and it's now run as a community art and wellbeing charity, which probably explains why the workshops feel more considered than a bog-standard craft session.

There's proper studio kit here rather than a few pots of paint: printing presses, extensive pottery facilities, and both a main and a lower exhibition gallery to poke around if the workshop's only part of your visit. Level access from 8 Backfields and wheelchair accessible studios mean buggies and wheelchairs aren't an afterthought, and there are accessible toilets too.

Hours are Monday to Friday 9:30am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 4pm, but the doors actually close at 6:20pm, so don't cut it fine on an evening booking. If you do turn up after that, you have to ring the doorbell, which feels like a faff when you've got a tired child in tow, but it's a small price for a building that clearly takes its security seriously. Parking's easy enough to sort, with the NCP on Wellington Street two minutes away and bus stops close by.

If you're planning a birthday or a bigger family gathering, they do private events and parties for groups at £50 a head, covering refreshments and access to the rest areas and galleries alongside the studio session. That's not pocket change for a party.

Facilities

Need to know

Wheelchairs

Wheelchair accessible studios and disabled accessible toilets

Getting there by bus or train

NCP car park (Wellington Street, 2 min walk)

Parties

Private events and parties for groups, stag/hen dos, birthdays, and work team building at £50 per head

• Doors close at 6:20pm, ring the doorbell if you arrive after that
• Studio sessions can be booked as morning, lunchtime or evening slots for groups
• There's a café area on site alongside the workshop spaces
• Bike parking is available if you're cycling in

Plan your visit

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