If you have spent any time at the Portsmouth Guildhall, you will know the seating has been due an update for a while. That work is now finished: the Main Auditorium has reopened after a summer overhaul that replaced all 2,000 seats with new 'lux' versions, complete with contoured backrests from Hussey Seatway. The whole thing cost £600,000 and was funded by Portsmouth City Council and The Guildhall Trust as part of the 'Renaissance of the Guildhall' programme.
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The new look goes beyond the seats. Tilly Hemingway of Hemingway Design has given the interior a maroon and gold scheme, and there are now Premium Seats with more legroom, plus a VIP package that gets you in early and gives you access to the Aura Lounge and Bar. Crucially for a working venue, the stalls keep their flexible format, with seating that can be removed for standing shows. The auditorium holds 2,000 seated and up to 2,500 standing.
The building itself carries a fair bit of history. It sits on Guildhall Square, a pedestrianised space near the Portsmouth and Southsea train stations, and is Grade II listed. The original structure was designed by Leeds architect William Hill, with the foundation stone laid on 14 October 1886 and the building officially opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales on 9 August 1890. It only became the Guildhall in 1926, when Portsmouth gained city status. It took a heavy hit from incendiary bombs on 10 January 1941 and was rebuilt between 1955 and 1959 at a cost of £1.5 million, reopening on 8 June 1959. The clock tower is said to be the largest and most powerful in the South of England, made by J. W. Benson, and its five bells, known as The Pompey Chimes, were cast by Mears & Stainbank in 1889.
The autumn 2026 programme is the first to use the new seats, and it is a busy one. It opened on 3 September with The Dead South, the Canadian folk-bluegrass band formed in 2012, and the line-up continues with Alison Moyet, Jack Savoretti, Michael Ball, Soul II Soul, The Proclaimers, The Pogues, Boyzlife, Squeeze and The Amy Winehouse Band. On the comedy side, Bill Bailey, Miriam Margolyes and Phil Wang all pass through. Classical music is well represented too, with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Portsmouth Chamber Music Series, and live screenings of 'The War of the Worlds', 'Avatar the Last Airbender' and festive favourites like 'Love Actually' and 'The Holiday'.
The wider 'Renaissance' programme has added more than just seats. The Lens Studio is a mid-size event space that takes up to 150 seated or 200 standing, and The BASE is a creative space in the basement for young people aged 11 to 25, which opened in July 2024 after a £1.3 million investment from Portsmouth City Council, Arts Council England and The Clothworkers' Foundation. It has a band room, a production studio and a multimedia suite, and reported over 5,000 instances of engagement in its first year. More work on the bar areas is planned from autumn 2026, so the changes are not finished yet. For now, the address is Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, PO1 2AB.
Published Date
12 September 2026
