Sun PierHouse

Sun Pier House occupies a former office building on Medway Street in Chatham, overlooking Sun Pier and the River Medway. The organisation, a not-for-profit community interest company formed in 2013, converted the building's three floors into around 28 artist studios, a ground-floor exhibition space known as the Riverside Gallery, two workshop rooms, an events room and a top-floor café. The gallery opened in 2014 and has since shown work by artists including Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and Billy Childish alongside changing shows by local Medway artists, usually free to enter. Studio tenants include a stop-motion animator, a milliner and a tattooist, working on site rather than in a shared retail unit. The café serves light lunches, soup and cakes Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm, with views along the river toward Rochester Castle and Upnor Castle. The venue runs independently of Medway Council, funded through studio rents, café takings and grants, from this single riverside site.