PopUp Painting

What PopUp Painting does

PopUp Painting is a UK-based social entertainment company that pioneered the sip-and-paint category in the United Kingdom in 2013. It organises step-by-step guided painting events at which participants — typically with no prior artistic experience — recreate themed artworks while drinking, under instruction from professional artists, and take home their finished canvas. The portfolio includes Classic Sip & Paint, Bottomless Sip and Paint (unlimited Prosecco/cocktails for two hours), Brush and Bottle (recycled wine-bottle LED lamp craft), Canvas Clash (gamified team paint battle), Paint Your Partner, plus adjacent craft formats such as Ink & Drink (lino printing) and Sip & Stitch (embroidery). Events are delivered at bars and restaurants across 10 UK cities and at the company's dedicated owned venue, the London Art Bar, in Holborn.

The operating platform is a conventional SMB SaaS stack: a WordPress website for content and direct bookings, Eventbrite as primary ticketing, Zoho Creator as a custom guest-management tool, Mailchimp for email marketing, PayPal for gift voucher payments, and Google Analytics for traffic tracking. Distribution is multi-channel, with events listed on Eventbrite, ClassBento, DesignMyNight, Fever, Obby and Yuup in addition to direct website sales. No proprietary technology, data assets or AI/ML capabilities are disclosed.

The business model is fundamentally transactional and direct-to-consumer. Revenue is generated from individual event tickets priced at £39.99–£45.00 for standard events and £54.99+ for premium formats; per-group pricing for private parties and corporate team-building; and gift vouchers (valid two years) redeemable across the event calendar. Events run on a per-event freelance workforce of artists (£75/event), event support (£60/event) and combined roles (£90/event). The core customer segments are adult social consumers (date nights, friend groups), private celebration bookers (hen, stag, birthday parties), and corporate team-building clients. As of 2024, PopUp Painting had painted with over 80,000 people cumulatively across 10 UK cities with 100+ events per month, and lifetime participation exceeded 100,000. In April 2026 the original founders (Phyllissa, Iain and Gareth) handed the London brand and venue to Collab Arts Collective led by Sophie Pywell, and transferred non-London UK operations to Prime Pass.

Name

PopUp Painting

Legal name

PopUp Painting & Events Ltd

Website

https://popuppainting.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

PopUp Painting operates a UK-wide sip-and-paint social events business founded in 2013, running 100+ themed painting experiences monthly across 10 cities and at its owned London Art Bar venue, serving individual social consumers, private celebration groups, and corporate team-building clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Painting & Entertainment Events

NAICS

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Crafts & Maker Arts (Ceramics, Textiles, Jewelry, Mixed Media) (EDAMAAAD)

Keywords

• Sip and paint events
• Social painting experiences
• Corporate team building
• Private party bookings
• Art entertainment workshops

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Public Event Tickets: Individual tickets sold to consumers for scheduled sip and paint events at partner venues. Standard events include a glass of prosecco, all materials, and step-by-step guidance. Premium events include bottomless drinks packages.
2. Private Party Bookings: Custom private events for hen parties, stag parties, birthdays, and other celebrations. Can be hosted at London Art Bar or partner venues. Includes custom theming options.
3. Corporate Events: Team building and corporate social events booked for groups. Events designed for workplace socialising and team cohesion. Customisable for corporate clients.
4. Gift Vouchers: Prepaid gift vouchers available for purchase on the website. Vouchers can be redeemed across the event calendar and are valid for two years.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

PopUp Painting runs guided social painting events ("sip and paint") across the UK in which attendees follow step-by-step instruction from a professional artist to recreate a themed artwork on canvas while enjoying drinks, with all materials provided. The company offers a portfolio of event formats (classic, brush and bottle, bottomless, craft alternatives) plus themed sessions for private parties, hen/stag dos, birthdays and corporate team-building, sold primarily through per-person tickets via its website, Eventbrite and other experience platforms, and delivered at its own London Art Bar or 100+ partner venues.

Product overview

PopUp Painting operates a portfolio of social painting and entertainment experiences across the UK, centered on its core Classic Sip & Paint Events and enhanced by specialty offerings like Bottomless Sip and Paint, Brush and Bottle, Ink & Drink, and Sip & Stitch. The company also delivers themed events for occasions (Birthday, Hen Party, Corporate) and operates its own dedicated venue, the London Art Bar in London. All experiences are designed for beginners with step-by-step professional artist guidance, materials provided, and themed music. As of 2024, operations span 10 UK cities with events running over 100 times monthly.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Classic Sip & Paint Events Step-by-step guided painting experiences led by professional artists where participants paint themed artworks with wine in one hand and a paintbrush in the other; no experience required, all materials provided, duration 2–2.5 hours; available at London Art Bar and partner venues across UK cities.
• Bottomless Sip and Paint Premium sip and paint event at the London Art Bar with unlimited Prosecco, Nosecco and selected cocktails and mocktails for 2 hours, plus guided painting instruction, all art materials and a take-home finished canvas.
• Brush and Bottle Events Sustainable craft event where participants paint a recycled wine bottle which is then transformed into a stunning lamp with LED lights inside; materials (wine bottle, paint, LED lights) provided; available at the London Art Bar.
• Ink & Drink Events Craft event where participants carve their own lino stamp to make prints and cards, accompanied by a glass of prosecco and step-by-step guidance.
• Sip & Stitch Events Embroidery hoop event where participants create embroidered pieces or upcycle clothes, accompanied by a glass of prosecco and step-by-step instruction.
• Canvas Clash Paint Battle Competitive team-based painting experience with paint battles, hidden clues, quiz questions and group singalongs, offering a gamified sip and paint with a competitive edge; London Art Bar only.
• Paint Your Partner Romantic-themed sip and paint events where participants paint their partner, available at venues across London, targeting couples and date nights.
• Birthday Sip & Paint Private or public events for birthday celebrations, including Painting & Prosecco, Canvas and Cocktails and Afternoon Sip & Paint formats, hosted at London Art Bar or partner venues.
• Hen Party Packages Bachelorette (hen party) sip and paint events available at the London Art Bar or partner venues across the UK, including the option to commission custom pop art portraits.
• Corporate Sip & Paint Events Team-building events for corporate clients featuring guided painting experiences with all materials provided, available as private bookings with customisable formats, sold via a dedicated corporate sales page.
• Gift Vouchers Prepaid gift vouchers available for purchase on the PopUp Painting website, valid for two years and redeemable across the full event calendar as a creative experience gift.

Quantifiable outcome

• Painted with over 100,000 people since 2013
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration16 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Prime PasscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 April 2026Prime Pass is taking over PopUp Painting operations outside of London from 1 April 2026. They will keep on the existing team and partner venues in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Cambridge, Manchester, and Sheffield. Existing bookings for 2026 will be honoured by Prime Pass.
• Collab Arts CollectivecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2026Collab Arts Collective, led by Sophie Pywell (former PopUp Painting artist and London Art Bar manager), is taking over PopUp Painting and London Art Bar brands from 1 April 2026. Sophie will continue sip and paint events, meetups, and special events while expanding the creative hub concept.
• London Art BarcoreOthersLondon Art Bar is the company's dedicated venue in Holborn, London, serving as home base for many events. From 1 April 2026, it becomes part of Collab Arts Collective along with PopUp Painting.
• EventbritecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPrimary ticketing platform powering ticket sales for events. Handles payment processing for bookings made through their platform.
• ClassBentominorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThird-party ticketing partner listing events and selling tickets.
• DesignMyNightminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThird-party ticketing and events platform partner.
• FeverminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThird-party ticketing platform partner for event listings.
• ObbyminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThird-party ticketing partner specialising in experience bookings.
• YuupminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThird-party ticketing platform partner for event distribution.
• Las Iguanas EdinburghminorOthersRestaurant venue partner in Edinburgh for sip and paint events.
• Côte EdinburghminorOthersRestaurant venue partner in Edinburgh for initial launch events.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves13 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• Fever: Global experiences marketplace that lists PopUp Painting events as a ticketing/distribution partner. Relevant as an adjacent ecosystem participant shaping demand for paid leisure experiences in the UK.

Emerging players

• Sips N Strokes: Canadian/US sip and paint operator running events at partner bars and restaurants. Closely comparable to PopUp Painting's non-London model that relies on third-party venues rather than owned studios.
• Creative Escapes: UK provider of arts, crafts and creative workshops including painting experiences. Overlaps with PopUp Painting's consumer creative enrichment angle and hen party / private event use cases.
• Bottle & Bottega: Boutique paint-and-sip studio with locations in the US offering guided painting plus wine. Comparable target market and experience design but smaller scale and primarily US-focused.
• ARTime: UK provider of arts and crafts workshops and creative experiences for adults and children. Competes with PopUp Painting's wider creative offerings (Ink & Drink, Sip & Stitch) beyond core sip-and-paint events.

Broad incumbents

• Muse Paintbar: US paint and sip chain combining guided painting with a full bar menu. Operates multiple brick-and-mortar studio venues, sharing PopUp Painting's owned-venue (London Art Bar) hybrid model but at greater scale.
• Painting with a Twist: Largest US-based paint and sip franchise with hundreds of locations. Comparable business model (guided painting, drinks, private events) but operates at much greater scale and primarily in North America, serving as a strategic benchmark for the category.

Direct peers

• The Paint Club: UK sip and paint brand offering guided painting events at bars and restaurants. Direct competitor serving similar UK consumers, private parties and corporate clients with a comparable step-by-step format.
• Paintvine: UK-based sip and paint event company running step-by-step painting sessions at bars and venues. Directly competes with PopUp Painting in the same UK consumer sip-and-paint category with overlapping pricing and venue-led model.
• Pinot & Picasso: Australian-founded paint and sip chain that has expanded into the UK. Offers the same guided painting-plus-drinks experience and competes head-to-head with PopUp Painting for the same consumer and private-event occasions.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/watch?v=mOFRCnue0xc&t=2s
• Instagraminstagram.com/popuppainting
• Xx.com/popuppainting

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about PopUp Painting