Websites and booking · Digital
Restaurant and pub websites that take bookings
Built by someone who has run the room, not just designed the page. A website that answers the questions guests actually ask, and turns a visit into a booking.
From £3,250. Live in four to six weeks. Care plans from £59 a month. No VAT added to your invoice.
Should a restaurant rely on booking platforms, or take bookings on its own website?
Own the front door. Booking platforms can help new guests find you, but if every booking comes through a marketplace, you pay for each cover and the platform sits between you and your guests. Your own website should answer the questions people ask before they book, such as the menu, the hours, where to park, and whether dogs are welcome, and then take the booking directly, through a booking system you choose, with the guest's details kept by you.
Atelier Sawyer builds websites and booking sites for independent restaurants, pubs, bars, cafés, and hospitality experiences in the UK. Every site is built to be found: each page is rendered on the server, so Google and AI search tools can read every word.
Does this sound familiar?
- Your website was built years ago, and you are slightly embarrassed to send people to it.
- The menu online is not the menu on the table.
- Guests ring to ask questions your website should answer.
- Most of your bookings come through a platform that charges you for each one.
- Changing the opening hours means emailing someone and waiting a week.
- You sell tours, events, or experiences, and taking payment is a mess of messages and bank transfers.
What you get
A website, from £3,250
- Up to about eight pages, written for you: the menu, the story, opening hours, how to find you, private hire, and the questions guests ask
- Built to be found: search basics set up, and pages rendered so Google and AI tools can read them
- A contact form, and your existing booking system linked in properly
- Designed around your venue, and built to work on a phone first, because that is where most guests will see it
- Live in four to six weeks from sign-off
Photography is not included, because the best photographs are of your real dishes and your real room. Book a content day for £795, or supply your own.
Booking and payments, quoted
If you sell tours, experiences, events, or tables that need a deposit, I can build booking and payment into the site itself, the way I did for Donkey Dreamland. Every one is different, so it is quoted per project.
An AI assistant for your guests
An assistant on your website that answers guests' questions at any hour: opening times, the menu, parking, private hire, and whether dogs are welcome. It works from your own information, which I keep up to date, and it hands anything it cannot answer to your team.
It says plainly that it is an AI. It never gives the final word on allergens: it points to your allergen information and asks guests with allergies to confirm with your team. And it never confirms a booking unless it is connected to your booking system.
Set-up from £495, then £59 a month for updates, monitoring, and running costs within a fair-use limit. Set-up includes the line your privacy notice needs.
Built by an operator
Most web designers know websites. I know what a guest wants to find at six o'clock on a Friday, what a front-of-house team needs from a booking, and what an owner needs to see at the end of the month. The site is built around that.
After launch: care plans, or take it with you
Before launch, you choose what happens next.
| Care | Care Plus | Take it with you | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | £59 a month | £125 a month | £295, one-off |
| Hosting, security, and updates | Included | Included | Moved to your own hosting |
| Backups and monitoring | Included | Included | Your responsibility |
| Changes | £95 an hour | One hour a month included | £95 an hour, if you want my help |
| Response times | Seven days a week | Seven days a week | Not applicable |
Care plans run monthly, with no long contract. If you leave later, you keep everything: the site, the content, and the domain. A structured handover, £295 with 30 days' notice, moves it to new hosting, with documentation and a handover call. Changes outside Care Plus are £95 an hour, minimum one hour, and quoted before any work starts.
Proof: Donkey Dreamland
Donkey Dreamland, a donkey sanctuary on the Costa del Sol, needed to sell tours and take payment without a pile of messages. I built a website and booking system that does both, alongside a portal for volunteers, enquiries, and donations. The first two paid bookings came in soon after launch.
What it costs
Websites from £3,250. Booking and payment systems quoted per project. Care £59 a month; Care Plus £125 a month, with an hour of changes included.
You get a fixed quote before anything starts. No hourly billing on the build, and no surprises. Half is paid when the project starts, and the balance at launch.
Prices are shown without VAT. Atelier Sawyer is based in Spain, so no VAT is added to your invoice. If your business is VAT-registered, you account for the VAT on your own return under the reverse charge.
Save British Pubs member? Your members' discount applies.
This is not right for everyone
- If you need a large online shop, or a site for a multi-site group with menus and booking for each location, ask me for a quote; it is a bigger project.
- If you only need your till, booking, and stock systems sorted, that is Digitise.
- If the website is fine and nobody visits it, that is Promote.
Frequently asked questions
Will a new website actually bring in more bookings?
Only if it answers what guests want to know and lets them book in a click or two. In my experience, hospitality sites lose bookings in three places: a menu that is out of date or will not open on a phone, opening hours that are wrong, and a booking button that is hard to find. Fix those first. And check your Google profile; many guests decide there before they reach your site.
I pay commission to booking and delivery platforms. Can I get off them?
Partly, and gradually. Keep the platforms for the new guests they genuinely find for you, and move your regulars to booking direct: a booking button on your own site and your Google profile, a link in every confirmation email, and a reason to book direct, such as the best tables. For delivery, offer collection or your own ordering to locals. Track where each booking comes from before you cut anything.
How much does a restaurant website cost in the UK?
Prices range widely, from a few hundred pounds for a template to five figures for a group with booking and ordering built in. Mine start at £3,250 for a single venue, written for you and live in four to six weeks, with booking and payment systems quoted per project and care plans from £59 a month. Whoever builds it, make sure you own the site, the content, and the domain.
Do I own my website?
Yes. The site, the content, and the domain are yours from the day it launches. You can take a care plan, or take the site with you and look after it yourself. If you leave a care plan later, a structured handover moves everything to your own hosting, with documentation and a call to walk you through it.
Can you connect my existing booking system?
Yes. Most booking systems can be linked into a website properly, so guests book without leaving your site and you keep their details. If the system you have will not link well, or charges you for every cover, that is worth knowing before you build. If you do not have one yet, Digitise can help you choose.
Talk it through
A free 30-minute call will tell us both what you need, and whether I am the right person to build it.