WordPress core
A flexible website the Arts Bar team can manage
Bespoke ticketing
High-performance event listings and online ticket sales
Ongoing support
Hosting, maintenance and development as the brand grows
Liverpool Arts Bar is a creative venue built around supporting local artists, performers and musicians. Across its Hope Street and Baltic locations, it brings together live events, exhibitions, nightlife, studio space and a wider community of grassroots talent.
The brand was developed by Lucas Jubb of Turtle & Hare Studio, who approached me to turn the designs into a fully functioning website.
Working closely together, we translated the bold visual identity into a bespoke WordPress build that looks unmistakably Arts Bar while remaining fast, flexible and straightforward for the team to manage themselves.
Turning a strong creative direction into a working digital platform
This project began with an established visual direction rather than a tired website in need of rescuing.
My role was to take the designs created by Lucas and turn them into a responsive, reliable website that retained the personality of the brand across different screens and types of content.
The finished site needed to accommodate venue information, menus, events, studio hire, private bookings, editorial content and merchandise without becoming cumbersome behind the scenes. The Arts Bar team also needed enough control to manage everyday content without relying on a developer whenever a new event was announced.
A strong design can quickly lose its teeth when it reaches development. Font choices get watered down, layouts become generic and somebody decides every interesting detail is “too difficult”.
Working closely with Lucas meant the digital build could stay faithful to the original creative direction while still behaving properly as a website.
The bold typography, unconventional layouts and energetic visual language were translated into reusable responsive components rather than treated as static artwork. This allowed the personality of the brand to remain consistent throughout the site without making future updates awkward.
Brand and website design by Lucas Jubb, Turtle & Hare Studio. Website development by Glenn Taylor Digital.
Events are central to Arts Bar, so relying on a clunky generic events plugin would have been the digital equivalent of putting plastic garden chairs in a cocktail bar.
I developed a bespoke WordPress events system that gives the team a straightforward way to publish upcoming performances and sell tickets directly through the website.
The system was built specifically for speed and ease of management, avoiding the unnecessary weight that often comes with off-the-shelf event platforms.
It also supports donation-based ticket pricing, allowing selected events to give customers greater flexibility over what they pay. That functionality was built around Arts Bar’s requirements rather than forced through a plugin that nearly did the job.
Arts Bar operates in a world where events change quickly and new content needs to go live without joining a development waiting list.
The website was built around reusable WordPress components and clear content-management tools, allowing the team to update pages, publish events and manage the site day to day.
The aim was not to make every conceivable setting editable. That usually results in an admin area resembling the cockpit of a budget airline. Instead, the editing experience gives the team control over what they genuinely need while protecting the consistency of the design.
The relationship did not finish when the website launched.
I continue to provide hosting, maintenance and technical support, alongside new development when Arts Bar needs the platform to do more.
That ongoing relationship has allowed features such as the ticketing integration to evolve alongside the organisation rather than requiring a fresh rebuild every time the business introduces something new.
A flexible website with Arts Bar’s personality baked into it
The finished website gives Liverpool Arts Bar a distinctive platform for promoting its venues, events, creative community and wider work.
It stays faithful to the original brand direction while providing the technical flexibility needed by a busy organisation publishing regular events and content.
Most importantly, the Arts Bar team can manage the website themselves, while retaining access to dependable support and bespoke development when their requirements grow.
It is not simply a bold design wrapped around WordPress. It is a practical working platform that supports the day-to-day business behind the brand.
Our experience working with Glenn has been amazing!
He’s built a bespoke calendar booking system tailored perfectly to our needs, ensuring seamless scheduling for our clients. This was a real sticking point and time consuming part of our business and has since then become virtually autonomous. Beyond that, his expertise in SEO-driven design, social media integration and brand-specific development has transformed our online presence. We were lucky enough to start working with Glenn over lockdown and noticed a huge spike in engagement once we were live. His attention to detail and dedication to delivering a high-quality product have exceeded our expectations. We highly recommend him for anyone looking for a top-tier web development service!
