The Overview
A traditional pub with a modern digital front door.
The Blackbird is a traditional pub in the fishing village of Ballycotton, East Cork, known for live music, its beer garden and seafood from the Field Kitchen. Almost everything the pub does changes week to week: who's playing, what's on the menu, which room is booked. The old site couldn't keep up.
We redesigned it around the questions people actually ask a pub: what's on, when can I eat, and can I book it for a party. The answers now sit on the homepage, kept up to date by the team themselves.
Before & after
A pub's website should feel like walking in.
The new homepage opens the way the pub does: bar, food, live music, beer garden, private parties, dogs welcome. It's one line, read in a second, followed straight away by what's on this week. Drag the handle to compare.
Social-Only Updates
Gig listings and opening hours lived on Facebook. The website was a static brochure that went out of date between updates.
Live Digital Hub
Events, food times and rooms on the homepage, managed by the pub's own team, so the site is as current as the chalkboard behind the bar.
What's on
Live music, front and centre.
Music is why many people make the trip to Ballycotton. We built an events listing the bar staff can update in minutes: date, time, act and type. Each entry appears in date order on the homepage and drops off automatically once the night has passed.
Rooms & occasions
Every room sold as a place to celebrate.
Private parties are some of the pub's most valuable bookings: wedding afters, birthdays, christenings, Christmas parties. Each room now has its own card with a photo, a one-line description and a direct enquiry button, so an event organiser can pick a space without having to ring first.
Fireside warmth, craft beers and a full whiskey and gin shelf
The music room where the gigs and sessions happen
A walled courtyard among the oldest ruins in the village
Food, with the hours beside it
The Field Kitchen menu sits right next to its serving times, so nobody turns up hungry at 9pm.
Written in the pub's voice
"Have a nice cold pint after walking the cliffs. You've earned it." Short, warm, local. No hospitality clichés.
Photography over decoration
Real photos of the bar, the food and the garden carry the atmosphere. The interface stays out of their way.
The full page
Homepage, top to bottom.
Responsive
Checked on a phone, on the cliff walk.
Most visitors look the pub up on their phone, often from the cliff walk or the car. On mobile, the opening hours, tonight's event and directions are the first things you see, and calling the bar is a single tap.
Is your venue livelier than its website?
We build hospitality sites your team can keep up to date, with events, menus and bookings front and centre. Send us your current site and we'll show you how it could look.