Walk-in queue and online booking for a Castle Bromwich barbershop
A combined walk-in queue and online booking layer for an independent Castle Bromwich barbershop, designed to keep the floor honest with itself on busy Saturdays without losing the walk-in character of the shop.
The challenge
The challenge.
The shop runs primarily as a walk-in business, with a smaller share of customers wanting to book ahead. The existing flow relied on a paper list at the counter and verbal updates across the chairs. On quieter weekdays this worked. On busy Saturdays it produced repeated questions at the door, lost turns, and a customer-side experience that did not match the standard of the cuts.
Our approach
Our approach.
We spent time in the shop on a normal Saturday before designing anything, observing how the barbers already managed turn-taking, how customers asked for updates, and where the friction actually was. The design that emerged keeps the walk-in queue as the primary shape and treats bookings as a small, explicit overlay on top, rather than the other way round. Everything was scoped and quoted before any build began.
What we built
The deliverables, in plain English.
- Walk-in check-in via a simple link or QR code, with no app to download
- Live queue visible to customers in plain language, including position and approximate wait
- Bookings as a defined number of slots per barber per session, sitting alongside the queue rather than overriding it
- Counter view for staff to manage order, no-shows, breaks and walk-back customers
- Quiet end-of-day summary showing real demand across the week
Systems used
- Queue & waitlist layer
- Online booking
- Customer-facing access
- Staff console
Related venture
Turkish Barbers — Castle Bromwich
More case studies
Other patterns we’ve worked through.
Contact
Tell us what is slowing the business down. We will map the fix.
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