An Irish late-night bar with live music in Scotland moved its bookings to Sidedoor. Between 16 September and 30 October 2026, 1 in 10 of its bookings (10.2%) came through the Sidedoor guest app, a booking channel the bar did not have before. 87% of its bookings are now made online.
This case study is anonymous. It does not name the bar or its group, and it describes the venue only as far as it can without identifying it.
About the bar
The venue is an Irish bar in Scotland. It is a late-night bar with live music, and it is one of several venues in its group.
It takes bookings from guests ahead of a night out. Where those bookings come from is what this case study follows.
The challenge
Before the switch, each venue in the group ran its own separate booking setup.
The group wanted four things from a move:
- One platform for all its venues, rather than a separate setup at each one.
- The ability to offer private hire, so guests could ask about booking the venue for an event.
- Lower operating costs.
- A more modern way to take bookings, in step with how guests now plan a night out.
What they set up
The group moved its venues onto Sidedoor. In Sidedoor, every venue in a group sits under one operator account, so the bar and its sister venues are run from the same place instead of from separate systems.
A new channel: the Sidedoor guest app
The part of the move this case study focuses on is the Sidedoor guest app. It is Sidedoor’s own app for guests, on iOS and Android, where guests can find and book Sidedoor venues.
For the bar, the app is a new channel. It is one of Sidedoor’s sales channels, alongside the booking widget on a venue’s own website, and all of them draw on the same live availability. The bar keeps one book, whichever way a guest comes in.
How guests find the bar in search
A guest planning a night out opens search in the app. They can narrow the results by:
- what they want: a table reservation, a guest list or an event
- the date
- party size, for a table or a guest list
- the type of event and, for music, the genre
Results show venues first, then events. Each venue appears as a card with its cover image, its name and the area it is in. Tapping the card opens the venue’s page, where the guest can book.
This is where the app sends guests to the venue. A guest searching for somewhere to go on a given night can come across the bar without having heard of it before.
Booking in the app
The guest books from the venue’s page in the app, choosing a time that fits the bar’s own rules for tables and timings. The booking lands in the bar’s reservations alongside every other booking, and in its guest records with the guest’s history.
Sidedoor charges no commission on the guest relationship. A guest who books through the app is the bar’s guest, the same as one who books on its website.
The booking in the guest’s wallet
Once a booking is confirmed, the guest can add it to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. The booking then sits on their phone alongside their other passes, ready for the night.
Private hire
Private hire was one of the reasons the group switched. In Sidedoor, a venue can set up private hire options, each with its own title, description and image. These show on the venue’s page in the guest app as available for private hire.
A guest who taps one sends the venue an enquiry, tagged as private hire, so the team can see straight away what it is about.
The results
The figures below come from the bar’s own booking data on Sidedoor.
1 in 10 bookings came through the app
Between 16 September and 30 October 2026, 10.2% of the bar’s bookings came through the Sidedoor guest app. That is about 1 in 10 bookings from a channel the bar did not have before it switched.
87% of bookings are made online
87% of all the bar’s bookings are now made online.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Bookings through the Sidedoor guest app, 16 Sep to 30 Oct 2026 | 10.2% (about 1 in 10) |
| Share of all bookings made online | 87% |
The group did not share figures on cost savings, so this case study does not give any.
What other bars can take from this
If your bookings only come from guests who already know you, it is worth asking where else a guest planning a night out might find you. A few things to check:
- Whether guests can find you without searching for your name. A guest app with search by date, party size and the kind of night they want puts you in front of people who have not heard of you yet.
- Whether every channel feeds one book. A new channel is only useful if it does not mean a second set of availability to manage.
- Whether the guest stays yours. Bookings from any channel should land in your own guest records, with no commission on the relationship.
- Whether guests can ask about private hire. If you offer it, guests should be able to find it and enquire without having to phone.
- Whether each venue needs its own system. If you run several, one account across all of them saves keeping separate setups in step.
For more on how Sidedoor works for late-night venues, see Sidedoor for nightclubs. For another group that moved its venues to Sidedoor, read how a Mexican restaurant in Scotland grew online bookings.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Sidedoor guest app?
It is Sidedoor's app for guests, on iOS and Android. Guests use it to search for venues and events, book a table or join a guest list, and keep their bookings in one place.
Can guests find my bar in the Sidedoor app?
Yes. Venues on Sidedoor appear in the guest app's search, where guests can filter by date, party size and whether they want a table, a guest list or an event. Bookings made there go into the same book as your other channels.
Can a bar take private hire enquiries through Sidedoor?
Yes. A venue can set up private hire options, which show on its page in the guest app. A guest who taps one sends an enquiry tagged as private hire.
Can I move a group of venues to Sidedoor?
Yes. The bar in this case study moved its group to Sidedoor, where every venue in a group sits under one operator account.
Run bookings, guest lists and events on Sidedoor.
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