Corners Surbiton

Case Study

Corners Surbiton

Corners is a new independent restaurant and wine bar on Maple Road in Surbiton. Opening within an area known for its restaurants and strong local community, it needed a website that would do more than display menus and take bookings. Abricot designed and built a website that brings the people, events and local connections around Corners into view – presenting it not only as somewhere to eat and drink, but as a place where the neighbourhood can meet.

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Project Details

Client
Corners Surbiton

Sector
Independent restaurant & wine bar

Audience
People living in Surbiton and the surrounding area

Working with
Johnny Joseph, owner and chef

A Neighbourhood I Already Knew

Many years ago, I worked evenings in the same building when it was Gordon Bennett’s. It was something I did for fun alongside my usual work, and it gave me a chance to get to know the people and the community around Maple Road.

So when Johnny told me about Corners and what he wanted it to become, I already understood the neighbourhood it was joining. The food and wine mattered, of course, but I could also see the potential for Corners to become somewhere local people would meet, join an event, stop for a drink and return to regularly. That sense of community became an important part of the website.

Bringing the Community Into the Website

Menus, opening times and booking information are essential on any restaurant website, and they needed to be easy to find on the Corners site.

Alongside them, the website needed to capture something of what it feels like to be there: the people, the events and the easy sociability that Johnny was building around the restaurant.

Photographs of real customers, shared tables and busy events give visitors a sense of Corners as a lived-in, sociable place. They show people enjoying the restaurant, not simply the food and surroundings.

Events also have a proper place on the website. Quiz nights, live music and wine tastings appear on the homepage as well as on their own page, and visitors can join the mailing list to hear about what is coming up.

Together, these elements allow people to see the friendly, local side of Corners for themselves.

Making the Website Feel Like Corners

Corners is relaxed, warm and full of character, so the website needed to feel the same. Deep greens, warm neutral colours and subtle paper textures give it a rich, welcoming feel without making it overly formal. The photography is allowed to do much of the talking. Food, wine, people and small details from around the restaurant are mixed throughout the pages, creating a sense of life and movement. The result feels personal to Corners and gives visitors a taste of the atmosphere before they arrive.

From Brunch to an Evening Out

Corners is not experienced in just one way. Someone might visit for brunch, come back for a glass of wine, meet friends for dinner or join one of the events.

The homepage introduces these different sides of the restaurant as visitors move through it. Food, drinks, happy hour and upcoming events each have their place, with clear routes to the menus and table booking.

This gives people more than one reason to visit – and a clearer idea of where Corners might fit into their own lives.

A Website That Can Grow With Corners

Corners is still new to Maple Road, and its connection with the neighbourhood will continue to grow. The website gives that connection somewhere to be seen, with space for new events, photographs and stories as more people become part of it. It gives visitors the practical information they need while also showing them the kind of place they will find when they arrive: warm, sociable and firmly rooted in Surbiton.