The Pole Coven officially opens its doors at new pole dancing studio in Portsmouth

Chloe Hood has finally witnessed her dream of opening her own pole studio become a reality following two Crowdfunders and eight years of working from home. She established The Pole Coven from her home in Portsmouth and her private lessons quickly became popular with people looking to exercise in a fun and unique way. She started a Crowdfunder early last year and she was looking to raise £10,000 in a bid to open her studio - but despite her best efforts, the premises she wanted fell through and she lost the matched funding from the council.

Chloe said: "The first Crowdfunder we did, basically, we got enough from the crowd but we needed the other match funding from the city council but unfortunately we didn't get the premises we wanted at the time so because we didn't have a premises they couldn't give us the money." Although Chloe did not secure her first Crowdfunder she was not going to let that stop her from opening the studio she always dreamt of.

She found out about the Enterprise Centre in Portsmouth which is run by the council, and she was informed that a space would be available. She decided to shoot her shot one more time in the bid to see her dream come to life - and this time round, things began to fall into place. Chloe said: "I nearly had the keys so I set up another Crowdfunder and the council said that if I did it again, I would get the funding - by that time, I had raised quite a lot of money by myself basically by working really hard so I didn't need as much from them."

The owner of The Pole Coven opened up the doors to her pole studio on December 16, 2023 and she said that it has had an amazing response. Chloe offers a range of pole dancing and fitness classes including classes for beginners, intermediates and for people that want to improve the dance aspect of pole dancing. She added: "It has been brilliant - we have had so many new people through the door.

"It has been quite nice to open in January when people want to try something new and get a new hobby - Most of our beginners have said they enjoy it and we have also had quite a few people come back to pole.

"It has been brilliant, I have been working out of my home with two businesses for the last eight years and it is a really positive experience to get out of the house and teach people, and before, I was only offering private lessons which was a bit trickier with people with money troubles so it is nice that now I can offer these group classes so people can meet new people." For more information about The Pole Coven and the classes that are on offer, click here