Barnabas Arts House is Newport's only independent gallery, set inside a deconsecrated Victorian chapel in Pillgwenlly. Janet Martin (former nurse, four decades a Newport framer) bought the derelict building in 2009. Today the old nave holds a rotating fine-art gallery, a vegetarian kitchen, resident studios, a Victorian stage, a cinema room, and Gwent Picture Framing, the longest-established framer in Gwent.
The walls go back to the nineteenth century. The use has changed four times. The Victorian stage at the end of the nave is the last remnant of the dance-hall years. The morso chopper in the framing shop sits where a printing press once stood.
The gallery, the framing shop, the studios, the cafe and stage. Walk through the front door on New Ruperra Street and you are in all four at once.
Two floors of the old chapel, no charge to walk in.
Welsh and visiting artists across the main hall and the iron-railed mezzanine. Solo and group shows alongside original paintings, ceramics, jewellery and limited prints, almost all from regional makers and almost all for sale. Several of the staff are themselves artists or framers, so the conversations on the floor are not the usual gallery shrug.
Tue to Sat · free entryThe longest-established framer in Gwent, 40+ years at the bench.
Janet's first business and the one she still runs herself. Bespoke framing across oil paintings, etchings, film posters, watercolours, school photographs, sports shirts, samplers and a stamp. Frame repair and glass replacement. The mouldings are stacked on display in long racks so clients hold the real finish before committing.
Walk-in or commission24-hour access, all bills included, free parking outside.
Resident studios in the side aisles and upper rooms; current tenants include Consumer Smith Fine Art and IMC. Hot-desking is open to freelancers who want a quiet desk under a Gothic window for the price of a coffee. Robbins Lane Studios (Janet's sister site round the corner, since 2006) takes the longer-term overflow.
Email to enquireHome-cooked vegetarian lunches under the original chapel roof.
Soup £5.50, panini £5.50, lasagne or shepherd's pie or butternut squash curry £7.00, cake £1.90 to £3.50. The main hall doubles in the evenings: comedy, live music, life drawing, film clubs, clay workshops, meditation, private hire. The Victorian stage is the giveaway.
Out-of-hours by arrangement
Janet Martin grew up in Cardiff in the Sixties. She went to Market Road High School, the building that was later taken over by Christine Kinsey and the artists who turned it into Chapter Arts Centre. The conversion of her own school into a working arts centre, on a 12-year-old's walk home, stayed with her the rest of her life.
She trained and worked as a nurse, then moved to Newport and changed direction. First she opened Gwent Picture Framing, the longest-established framer in Gwent, now in its fifth decade, still run by Janet herself. In 2006 she added Robbins Lane Studios, giving Newport painters and illustrators somewhere affordable to work.
In 2009 she bought the derelict Victorian chapel on New Ruperra Street. The building had already been a soup kitchen, a dance hall, and a printers since the congregation left. Fifteen years later, the chapel is the gallery, the framing shop is in the old vestry, the studios are in the side aisles, the dance-hall stage is still where it always was, and Newport has the only independent arts house in the city.
“Janet has been at the forefront of the Newport arts movement for over thirty years.” Cultvr Cymru, Welsh cultural-venues directory
The arts quarter that grew up around her in Pillgwenlly is a single woman's work: Gwent Picture Framing (inside the chapel, the original business); Robbins Lane Studios (round the corner, since 2006); and The Phyllis Maud Performance Space, a 35-seat Grade-II-listed theatre opened in April 2019, inside a derelict Edwardian public toilet Janet bought from the council for £15,000, funded with an inheritance from her late aunt and named after her.
Janet ran Gwent Picture Framing for years before she opened the gallery. It is the longest-established independent framer in Gwent: over forty years of bespoke work. When Barnabas opened in 2009 the framing shop moved into the old vestry. The mouldings are stacked on physical display, not in a sample book; clients lift the real finish before committing.
We frame everything we are brought. Original oil paintings. Watercolours. Etchings, screenprints, signed lithographs. Film posters. School photographs. A signed Welsh rugby shirt. A wedding sampler. Pressed flowers. A stamp. We do frame repair and glass replacement when nobody else will.
“No job is too big or too small.” The frame shop's own current line, lifted verbatim.
16 April to 20 June 2026
A group show of nine artists working in line, pencil, charcoal and ink. The quietest of the media, given the loudest room in the city. Walk in any day Tuesday to Saturday. No charge.
Private view: Thursday 16 April, 6 to 8pm. Refreshments. All works for sale.
The side aisles and upper rooms of the chapel house resident creative businesses on flexible terms. Current tenants include Consumer Smith Fine Art and IMC. Studios have 24-hour key access, all utility bills included, free parking outside the front door, and a short or long lease. Hot-desking under the stained-glass windows is open to freelancers for the price of a coffee. Robbins Lane Studios (Janet's sister site, round the corner since 2006) takes the longer-term overflow.
Email the studio team →
A resident's shelf · brushes, gesso, a portrait pinned above. The cafe serves home-cooked, mostly vegetarian and vegan lunches Tuesday to Saturday: soups, panini, lasagne, shepherd's pie, butternut squash curry, cake under the original chapel roof. The Victorian stage at the end of the nave is a remnant of the dance-hall years; the cinema room sits in what was once a side chapel. Out-of-hours events are arranged in person.
“Events may take place outside of these hours.” The gallery's contact-page footnote.
Janet led the transformation of Ruperra Lane, the alley running beside Barnabas that until recently was neglected and unloved. Twelve artists worked across the walls on a single coordinated project, beginning with Barnabas's own exterior and working outward to the council garages. Trompe-l'oeil framed paintings hang on hand-painted damask; an armchair and a tabletop are painted into the brickwork. The inspiration came from Berlin, Brick Lane and Bristol.
Covered by ITV News Wales (15 July 2022), the South Wales Argus, and Wales Online. The project is sometimes called “A Place of Wonder” on the venue's own website.
Five minutes' walk from Newport bus station, ten minutes from the railway station. Free parking outside the building on New Ruperra Street; Pillgwenlly is one of Newport's oldest neighbourhoods, near the docks. Buses 7, 8 and 30 stop on Commercial Road.
| Monday | Closed | |
| Tuesday | 09:30 | 17:00 |
| Wednesday | 09:30 | 17:00 |
| Thursday | 09:30 | 17:00 |
| Friday | 09:30 | 17:00 |
| Saturday | 09:30 | 15:00 |
| Sunday | Closed | |
Events may take place outside of these hours. Studio tenants have 24-hour key access.
No. Walk in any time Tuesday to Friday between 9:30 and 5pm, or Saturday between 9:30 and 3pm. There is no charge to come in and no obligation to buy. Reviewers say the warm welcome and the lack of pressure to move on are what bring them back.
A century-old Victorian chapel in Pillgwenlly, Newport's old waterfront parish. After the congregation left it had three more lives: a soup kitchen, a dance hall (the stage at the end of the nave is its last remnant), then a working printers. Janet Martin bought the derelict building in 2009.
Yes. Gwent Picture Framing runs out of the workshop inside Barnabas. 40+ years of bespoke framing across oils, watercolours, etchings, photographs, posters, textiles, sports shirts and a stamp. Frame repair and glass replacement included. Walk in during gallery hours, or phone 01633 673739 to talk through a larger commission.
Yes. Resident studios sit in the side aisles and upper rooms (current tenants include Consumer Smith Fine Art and IMC). Studios have 24-hour key access, all utility bills included, free parking outside, short or long lease. Hot-desking is open to freelancers for the price of a coffee. Robbins Lane Studios round the corner takes the overflow.
Yes. The whole building, or just the Victorian stage, or just the kitchen, or just the cinema. Out-of-hours events are arranged on a case-by-case basis. "Events may take place outside of these hours" is the contact-page line we mean. Email to start a conversation.