If you fancy an afternoon making something with your hands, The Pottery Experience is a pottery painting and making café at 81 Fern Avenue, in Jesmond. You can come in and paint a ready-made piece, or you can learn to make your own from scratch. The café serves vegan cakes and it's BYOB, so you can bring your own drinks. The venue has a 5/5 rating from 138 Google reviews.
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Painting is charged per piece, with prices from £10 to £40 depending on size. The making sessions start at £38 per person and include two pieces, materials, tuition, glazing and firing. You come back one or two months later to repaint your pieces, and glazing and firing take three to five weeks, so you'll need to wait a while before you take them home. Packing and collection cost between £6 and £15, or £2 more per person for large groups. There is also a Pottery Socials course, which runs over three weeks and costs £140 per person. The studio also takes hen parties.
Age limits depend on the activity. Everyone is invited regardless of age or ability, but the throwing taster is for over-12s only, and the hand building and making courses are for adults only. Workshops are announced about four months before they run, and you need to book and pay in advance. Some of the upcoming ones are held at Two By Two, a brewery and taproom in Byker, and include a drink in the price. These include a Pottery + pints session on 29 October (£33), a Halloween spooky Pottery Painting on the same day (£27), and a Festive Pottery Painting on 26 November (£29). On 18 October there is a workshop called 'Learn to make a boob mug or plant pot with Wade', with 20 places still listed as available. The 8 November Christmas decorations workshop was sold out at the time of writing, while the 15 November one had five places left.
The studio is closed on Tuesdays. It's also shut from 12 to 15 October, and again from 24 to 29 December and on 1 January 2027. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday it opens from 10:00 to 17:00, while on Saturdays and Sundays it opens earlier, at 09:30, and closes at 17:00. If you live on Fern Avenue, or you work for the NHS, the police or the fire service, you get 10% off from Monday to Friday. Each workshop booking also includes a £10 donation to breast cancer charities.
In short, this is a relaxed place to paint or make pottery at your own pace, with a café and a drinks option. Booking ahead is a good idea, especially for the group workshops.
Published Date
13 October 2026
