The challenge

The Rose & Crown is one of the oldest inns in Enfield, tucked into the hollow between Whitewebbs Park and Hilly Fields. It was once owned by the grandfather of Dick Turpin, and an iron ring still sits in the front wall where the highwayman may well have tied up Black Bess. For a while, though, the pub had lost some of its shine.

Under new ownership the pub was lovingly restored, and the website needed to do the same job online. It had to capture the warmth of a proper family-run country pub, tell that extraordinary history, show off the food and the terrace, take table bookings, and pull in the walkers, dog owners and families exploring Forty Hall and the surrounding woods.

What I did

• Designed a bespoke WordPress website that feels like the pub itself: warm, characterful and welcoming.
• Built a full-width image slider so the food, the interiors and the terrace do the selling.
• Gave the pub’s remarkable history its own place on the page, because it is a genuine draw for visitors.
• Set up a clear reservations flow, with a Book Now button in the header on every single page.
• Created menu, gallery and events sections the team can update themselves as things change.
• Added live Google reviews to the homepage so new visitors see real, recent praise straight away.
• Set up a Mailchimp newsletter signup to help the pub build its own audience.
• Embedded Google Maps and clear pub and kitchen opening hours, because those are the two things every visitor checks.
• Provided ongoing hosting and support, keeping the site current as menus, events and seasons change.

The details that make it work

The result

The Rose & Crown now has a website that matches the pub people actually walk into: characterful, welcoming and easy to deal with. Bookings run through the site, the events and function side of the business is properly showcased for birthdays, weddings and christenings, and the team can keep menus and news current themselves.

Best of all, the reviews tell the story better than I can. Regulars who had drifted away have come back, and one visitor of more than thirty-five years described being overjoyed at the transformation and thanked the pub for bringing it back to its former glory. A website cannot pour a decent pint, but it can make sure people know it is worth the trip.

Note for Lucy: add any real numbers you have here, such as bookings taken through the site, traffic growth, or newsletter signups. Confirm whether the pub is on a formal care plan before publishing that line.