From 3 Seconds to 0.9 Seconds: How We Transformed WH Pubs' Digital Presence

When WH Pubs approached us, they had a problem common to many hospitality groups: multiple venues, each with different needs, managed through a fragmented and slow web presence.

Their existing website took over 3 seconds to load, couldn't be easily updated by staff, and wasn't helping customers find what they needed, whether that was booking a table, checking opening hours, or viewing an event calendar.

This is the story of how we transformed their digital presence.

The Challenge

WH Pubs operates 6 premium pub venues across Kent. Each venue has its own character, menu, events, and community. Their digital presence needed to reflect this while maintaining brand consistency and operational efficiency.

The problems they faced:

• Slow, outdated website (3+ second load times)
• No central content management
• Individual venue pages were hard to find
• Booking system wasn't integrated
• Events were announced only on social media
• Staff couldn't update menus or hours easily

Their goals:

• A fast, modern website that reflects their premium positioning
• Individual pages for each venue with unique content
• Centralised management but venue-specific flexibility
• Integrated table booking across all venues
• An events calendar visible on the website
• Self-service content updates for the team

Our Approach

Discovery and Strategy

We began with a strategy session to understand not just what they wanted, but how their business actually operated.

Key insights from discovery:

• Different venues serve different audiences (family-friendly vs. evening destination)
• Events are a major draw, some venues host live music weekly
• Customers often visit multiple venues in the group
• Staff time is limited; updates need to be quick and simple

This shaped our approach: a unified platform with venue-specific flexibility, built for real people to manage.

Technical Architecture

We built the site on Next.js with Sanity CMS, deploying to Vercel's edge network. This stack was chosen for:

Performance: Next.js with server-side rendering and image optimisation delivers sub-second load times.

Flexibility: Sanity's structured content model means venues can have different content types while sharing a consistent framework.

Reliability: Vercel's CDN serves the site from locations close to users, with 99.99% uptime.

Usability: Sanity Studio is intuitive, staff can update content without technical training.

Multi-Site Architecture

Each venue gets its own section: /venues/the-bull/, /venues/the-oak/, etc.

But the architecture is smarter than just separate pages:

• Shared components: Navigation, footer, and booking widgets are consistent
• Venue-specific content: Menus, hours, galleries, and events are unique to each venue
• Cross-promotion: Each venue page suggests other pubs in the group
• Unified search: Customers can search events across all venues

Content Management

We created custom content schemas in Sanity:

Venue schema: Name, address, hours, description, gallery, features (dog-friendly, beer garden, etc.)

Menu schema: Structured data for food and drink menus with sections, items, and prices

Event schema: Date, time, venue, description, ticket link, recurring options

Team schema: Staff profiles for the "meet the team" sections

The result: non-technical staff can update any content without touching code or risking broken layouts.

Table Booking Integration

Rather than building a custom booking system, we integrated with their existing table management software. The booking widget appears on each venue page, pre-filtered to that location.

Customers can also book from a central page, choosing their preferred venue from a dropdown.

Events Calendar

Events were previously only promoted on social media, meaning customers had to follow multiple accounts to stay informed.

We built a unified events system:

• Events page showing all upcoming events across all venues
• Filter by venue, event type, or date
• Individual event pages with all details
• Automatic display of events on relevant venue pages
• RSS feed for customers who want notifications

The Results

The new website launched after 8 weeks of development. Here's what changed:

Performance

• Load time: 3.1s → 0.9s
• PageSpeed (mobile): 45 → 94
• Time to Interactive: 4.2s → 1.1s
• Largest Contentful Paint: 3.8s → 0.8s

0.9 seconds. That's faster than most competitors' sites load their first image.

Organic Traffic

Within 6 months:

• 180% increase in organic search traffic
• Top 3 ranking for "[venue name] + booking"
• Featured snippets for opening hours queries
• Events appearing in Google's event search results

User Engagement

• Bounce rate decreased by 35%
• Pages per session increased by 2.4x
• Mobile traffic increased to 68% of total (previously 52%)
• Table booking conversions increased by 40%

Operational Efficiency

• Staff can update menus in under 5 minutes
• Events go live with 3 clicks
• Hours are updated centrally for all venues
• No more "website down" calls to external developers

What We Learned

Every project teaches us something. Here's what we took from WH Pubs:

Hospitality needs speed. People looking for pubs are often deciding in the moment. A slow site means they move on. Sub-second load times aren't a luxury; they're essential.

Staff will use a CMS if it's actually usable. Previous systems were ignored because they were too complex. Make content management simple, and it becomes part of operations.

Cross-promotion works. Showing "Other pubs you might like" on each venue page creates genuine cross-traffic. Customers discover venues they didn't know existed.

Events drive traffic. Once events were visible on the website (not just social media), traffic around event dates increased significantly. People search for "live music [town name]", now WH Pubs appears.

The Technology Stack

For the technically curious:

• Framework: Next.js 14 (App Router)
• CMS: Sanity (v3)
• Hosting: Vercel (Pro tier)
• Images: Next.js Image with automatic WebP conversion
• Maps: Mapbox GL
• Booking: Integrated via existing provider's API
• Analytics: GA4 with custom events

Could This Work for Your Business?

The WH Pubs project showcases what's possible when a hospitality group takes digital seriously. But the principles apply beyond pubs:

Multi-location businesses benefit from unified management with location-specific content.

Event-based businesses see traffic gains when events are properly structured for search.

Any business with a team benefits from a CMS that non-technical staff can actually use.

If your website is slow, outdated, or impossible to update, there's a better way.

Running a hospitality business with multiple locations? Let's talk about how a unified digital platform could transform your operations.