East Quay

Watchet built itself an arts centre: the Onion Collective, a community interest company formed in the town in 2012, raised East Quay on the harbour and opened it in September 2021 — two contemporary galleries, eleven artist studios, a working paper mill, a print studio, a geology workshop, a kitchen and five places to stay the night, in a boldly contemporary building by Piers Taylor's Invisible Studio with Ellis Williams Architects. Entry to the galleries is free, with donations feeding the Contains Art charity that runs the programme; the 2026 season carries a major Poulomi Basu exhibition through the summer. No council runs it and no chain owns it — the town made it, and the town keeps it.