The five pieces
How each piece works
For each item: the problem today, what it is worth, how we implement the first project, then Version 1 vs Version 2 — capabilities, Monday, time in the build, and price. Jump to one, or read them in order.
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01
A real website
French first, English too. The one page Google and ChatGPT should quote.
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02
Newsletter and a stamp card
A list you own. Draft from the site week; you approve. A quiet-night perk you set.
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03
Slides on the TVs
When there is no match: tonight, the rooms, the food.
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04
Facebook and Instagram drafts
A week in one go, from the site. You approve. Then it posts.
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05
The upstairs rooms
A product people can find. Hire on quiet nights. No online booking.
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The Monday desk
Light desk in Version 1. Full control centre in Version 2.
01
A real website
Anyone who searches for an Irish pub, a match, a quiz or a room in Bordeaux — on Google or by asking ChatGPT — should get you, not a leftover page from 2004.
The problem today
There is no working commercial website. Google still sends people to connemara-pub.com, which looks like 2004. The page you have been using as a “site” is an English-only Adobe brochure. Hours do not agree: Google and that brochure say Monday closed; Instagram still says Monday open. Other English pubs in town already have real sites with menus and calendars.
Facebook (~11,000 people) and Google reviews (4.4 from more than 2,500) are strong. They cannot replace a page that tells the truth in French and English — hours, menu, allergens, what’s on this week, how to phone, how to ask about a room. ChatGPT and similar tools cannot reliably cite you, so they guess or they cite a rival.
Why this is worth it
You stop leaking people you already earned the right to have: the tourist who searched “irish pub Bordeaux”, the group who asked ChatGPT where to watch rugby, the birthday that never found the upstairs rooms because nobody advertised them. The site does not replace Facebook. It is the spine everything else in this project hangs on — events, newsletter signup, and a dedicated rooms page so hire is discoverable, later extras if you want them.
How we implement it
We build the site. We do not squeeze it into Squarespace or Wix. Those look fine on day one and then fight bilingual legal pages, a weekly calendar, and the extra marks Google and ChatGPT need. You get a simple private editing screen: change the hours, this week’s band, a dish, a photo — without calling us every time. That week is typed once. It is what guests see, and it is the brief for the newsletter draft, the social drafts, and the TV slides.
Pages, in both languages, French first:
- Home — what it is, where, tonight’s useful fact
- Menu as real text (not a PDF phones cannot read), plus the 14 allergens the law wants in writing
- What’s on — quiz, trad, open stage, bands, comedy
- Sports — Irish pub, rugby and football, multiple screens, Bordeaux (a page-per-match factory can wait)
- The two upstairs rooms (piece 05)
- Frequent questions, contact (map, 05 56 52 82 57), and the legal pages France requires
Cookies: Accept and Reject are equal. The newsletter box starts empty; sending a room enquiry is not a signup. If a happy hour names alcohol, the same deal exists for a soft drink. We put on the site whatever you confirm for Monday — we will not guess.
This is not a booking website and not a shop. Dinner stays walk-in. Lunch stays on the phone.
Expected results
We do not promise a ranking or a number of covers. We do expect the site to do the jobs the pub cannot do with Facebook alone:
- Someone who searches Google — or asks ChatGPT — for an Irish pub, a quiz, a match or a room in Bordeaux gets you, not the 2004 leftover and not a rival.
- Hours, address and phone are written once, in French first and in English. Google is pointed at this site, not at 2004. The week on the page matches the week in the room.
- The menu is readable on a phone, with the 14 allergens in writing — not a PDF that does not open on the tram.
- The newsletter has a public door: people who want the list can join without living on Facebook.
- The upstairs rooms become a page people can find and enquire about, instead of something they discover by walking upstairs.
- Instagram and Facebook have a real page to land on. Staff can say “it’s on the site” and mean it.
Version 1 and Version 2
Version 1 · in the five
Capabilities
Private editor for hours, this week’s band, a dish, a photo. Save, and the public site updates. That week is the brief for mail, posts and slides.
Monday
Open the site editor. Type the week (~10 minutes). Guests see it. Then you still open Brevo, Metricool and Yodeck to finish the rest.
In the build
Most of the 1.5–2 months. The other four pieces hang on this week existing.
Price
4,000–8,000 € once (almost all of the 4,500–9,500 € band) + 0–40 € / month hosting.
Version 2 · full desk
Capabilities
Same public site. Same week. The editor sits on the fuller private page, next to rooms, mail, posts and the TV pack.
Monday
Type the week once, on that page. You do not hop to a second CMS.
In the build
No second website. The week field moves onto the control centre in the extra 3–5 weeks.
Price
The site line does not rise. This piece of the add-on is “same editor, one desk.”
02
A newsletter, and a simple stamp card
People who asked get a useful email — drafted from the week already on the site, sent only when a manager says yes. Regulars who come back on quiet nights get a stamp card on their phone — for example “10 visits, one on us,” or a similar perk you prefer.
The problem today
Facebook does not reach everyone, and it does not belong to you. There is no email list we could find, and no simple reason to come back on a dead Tuesday instead of “we’ll see.” Asking a manager to write a newsletter from a blank page every week would fight the second goal of this project: it would add work, not cut it.
Why this is worth it
The list is yours. When Ireland is on Saturday, you can tell people who already like you — not hope they saw a story. That mail is not a new writing job: the facts are already on the website. A manager glances, edits if needed, and says yes. The stamp card fills the nights that are not already full. Together they keep regulars as a habit, without a “club app” and without another Sunday at the kitchen table.
How we implement it
Newsletter. A box on the new website, wired to Brevo (a French email tool — the post office for marketing mail). We do not build a mail system. Those fail, and then nobody can leave the list. French law: the box starts unchecked; you keep proof they said yes; one click and they are out. Asking for lunch or a room is not permission to mail them.
The week on the website is the brief. Monday, someone already types what is on: Top 14 Friday 21:00, a mojito all week, the food special — the same lines guests see on the site. We use the same voice pack as Facebook and Instagram, and a small set of mail templates (this week’s nights, optional rooms line), to draft one short mail from that week. Optional extra lines (a promo that is not on the public page) can sit next to the week; we do not ask for a second “newsletter form.” The draft waits in Brevo. A manager reads it, changes a time or a name, and taps send. If nobody approves, nothing goes out. Same rule as social. We do not auto-send because it is raining or because a match is on — that can wait until the list is trusted.
Stamp card. Before we buy anything, we look at the till. If it already does stamps or points, we use that — one system at the bar. If it does not: a small French wallet card (Apple Wallet / Google Wallet). The manager taps or scans once. A typical rule is ten off-peak visits, then a pint or a dish — or a similar perk you set (a soft drink, a dessert, a different count). We do not stamp sold-out Ireland nights or a packed UBB Saturday. The manager can always say no. We do not start WhatsApp newsletters.
How you use it
A guest ticks the box on the site. They get a mail when there is something real — not every Monday for the sake of it. A regular at the bar opens their phone; someone stamps; that is it. Once a week or less, a manager opens the draft that already exists, glances, and says yes. They do not start from a blank page.
Version 1 and Version 2
Version 1 · in the five
Capabilities
Signup on the site. Small set of mail templates filled from the week + the voice pack. Draft waits in Brevo. Human send. Stamp card at the bar (or the till, if it already stamps).
Monday
The draft is already there. Open Brevo, glance, edit a time, send. Nothing leaves without that tap.
In the build
Templates and the first draft land in the second month, with the voice pack.
Price
Drafting sits in the 500–1,000 € voice-pack line (shared with social). Brevo 15–40 € / month. Stamps 0–29 € / month only if the till cannot.
Version 2 · full desk
Capabilities
Same templates, same list in Brevo. You preview, edit, schedule or send from the private page. No second writing job.
Monday
The mail sits next to the week. Glance, send. You do not open Brevo for a normal week.
In the build
Send-from-page is part of the extra 3–5 weeks. Not a new mailbox.
Price
Inside the 3–6k add-on — not a second newsletter fee. Monthly Brevo unchanged.
03
Slides on the TVs
The screens are for sport first. When there is no match, they can sell tonight, the rooms, and the food to people already in the building.
The problem today
You already paid for the hardware. Guests already look up. When football is off, the screens are often wasted: a logo, a mute menu, or nothing. The upstairs rooms have no place in the room except a conversation at the bar — which is how most people find them today, by chance.
Why this is worth it
This is the cheapest audience you have: people who already walked in. A slide that says “Friday trad, 21:00” or “two rooms upstairs — ask when the pub is quieter” does the pitch before anyone has time. Guests who would hire a room on a dead Tuesday learn it exists without stumbling upstairs. You use dead air on screens you already own. Sport always wins — we will not cover a match.
How we implement it
We rent a simple player (PosterBooking or Yodeck) and put a small stick or box on one to three screens that can be promo-only — entrance, behind the bar, upstairs landing. You tell us which. We do not hang a second computer on every match feed. That is how you lose the rugby.
We design a short pack of slides from the same facts as the website, so the Saturday band cannot be wrong on the TV and right on the site. One slide looks like the chalkboard you already write by hand — this week’s nights. The others are presets for nights that rarely change (quiz, open stage, trad, rooms, food). Six to ten seconds each. You change the week slide in Yodeck (or PosterBooking). We do not push files to the sticks from the website. French drinks rules: no lifestyle “party pints” video. Safer slides are the night, the food, the rooms, a match listing, a happy hour that also names a soft drink.
A half-time takeover on a sport TV is a later physical HDMI button, if you want it — one press, not a login during service. Not in the first install unless you ask.
How you use it
A guest walking in sees tonight before anyone pitches. When the week changes, a manager replaces the chalkboard “this week” slide in Yodeck. Fixed-night presets stay put. Staff do not open an app in the crush. If you later add the half-time button, they press it, slides run, the match comes back.
Version 1 and Version 2
Version 1 · in the five
Capabilities
We design the first pack: chalkboard “this week” plus presets (quiz, open stage, trad, rooms, food). Playback in Yodeck or PosterBooking on 1–3 promo screens. You edit the changing slide in that tool.
Monday
If the band or the match changed, open Yodeck and swap the chalkboard slide. Fixed nights stay put.
In the build
First pack and sticks in the second month, once the week on the site is true.
Price
100–250 € hardware once + 0–24 $ / month for the player. Design of the first pack is in the five.
Version 2 · full desk
Capabilities
Fill the chalkboard slide and the presets from this week. Export a pack (images / PDF). Drop it into Yodeck. See what is playing. We do not rebuild their designer, and we do not push to the sticks.
Monday
Export from the desk if the chalkboard slide changed, then one upload in Yodeck. Not a live pipe to the TVs.
In the build
The export helper is part of the extra 3–5 weeks.
Price
Inside the 3–6k add-on. Player rent unchanged.
04
Facebook and Instagram — drafts you approve
The week is already on the website. We turn it into one pack of drafts — Facebook and Instagram together. A manager glances and says yes. Posts stay drafts until then.
The problem today
Facebook is the big channel (~11,000). Instagram is smaller (~3,000) and still useful. The voice already works: bilingual, human, not a tourist brochure. The pain is time — sitting down to write, remember the drinks-ad rules, find a photo, post at a decent hour. Then nine days go by and the page looks asleep even when the room was full.
Why this is worth it
You keep the voice that already built that audience. You stop the hole where nobody posted. You never wake up to a machine that published the wrong hours or a drink ad a lawyer would hate. Fifteen minutes, once a week — not a second writing job, and not a Sunday night at the kitchen table.
How we implement it
Two things, not one. The voice pack is ours: two pages from about twenty posts you already published — words you use, words you never use, no stock clovers, French and English, no “party pints” lifestyle. The same pack writes the newsletter draft (piece 02). The calendar is a tool called Metricool. It talks to Facebook, Instagram, and if you want, Google. It does not invent the Connemara voice by itself. We put a short version of the pack in its settings; the full pack is what we use every Monday with the website week.
That Monday produces one pack: three or four posts, Facebook and Instagram together (same idea, caption fitted to each), already sitting as drafts in Metricool — quiz, trad, a dish, a match you are really showing, and the upstairs rooms. Hire is advertised in the feed, not only if someone asks. We can also put a short line on Google, so Maps is not a leftover from last year. Photos, the time on the card, and the yes happen in Metricool. That is this project. Preview-and-schedule on our page is the optional control centre.
Posts stay drafts until a manager says yes. Then they go out at the time on the card. We can start on Metricool’s free plan (enough for about four posts a week) and move to the cheap paid plan (~16–20 € per month) if you outgrow it. A dearer plan can lock publishing behind an email tap if you ever want that. We do not start there. We do not build a private Facebook robot — those break when Meta changes the rules.
Live stories on a full night still go out by hand. Stories with stickers or polls are the same: the phone, not the calendar. Safer posts under French rules: the gig, the food, the rooms, the listing.
How you use it
Once a week, about fifteen minutes: open Metricool. The drafts are already there. Change a kick-off, skip a weak one, attach a photo, tap yes. Facebook and Instagram go together. If something is wrong, skip. The tool does not argue. You do not start from a blank page.
Try a Monday — a clickable mock of both versions. No live AI, no Metricool login.
Version 1 and Version 2
Version 1 · in the five
Capabilities
Voice pack writes the week’s pack. One tap parks drafts in Metricool (Facebook + Instagram, optional Google). Photos, crop, time, skip or yes happen in Metricool. Live sticker stories stay on the phone.
Monday
Tap once on the light desk. Open Metricool (~15 minutes): attach a photo, check the time, yes or skip.
In the build
Voice pack and first parked week in the second month.
Price
500–1,000 € once (shared with newsletter drafts) + 0–20 € / month Metricool. Free is tight if every idea goes to both networks — Starter is ~16–20 €.
Version 2 · full desk
Capabilities
Preview captions, attach photos, set times (including Metricool best-time). Schedule here is the yes. Metricool still publishes. We do not rebuild their inbox or analytics.
Monday
Stay on the page. You should not need Metricool for a normal week. Crop or a later time-change can still happen there.
In the build
Preview-and-Schedule is part of the extra 3–5 weeks — not a private Facebook robot.
Price
Inside the 3–6k add-on. Metricool rent unchanged.
05
The upstairs rooms — a page and a form
Today people find the upstairs by chance. We turn the rooms into a product that is advertised and discoverable — hired on quieter nights, when they are not needed for the public.
The problem today
Two rooms upstairs can be privatized. They are useful for an afterwork, a birthday, a small meeting, a stag — and as overflow when a match fills the ground floor. They are not advertised. People who would hire them usually find the opportunity by chance: they walk upstairs, or someone at the bar happens to mention it. There is no page to search, and phone-only “is the upstairs free?” dies in the Saturday crush.
That is likely the biggest commercial gap in this project. The rooms can only be booked when the pub is not so busy that they must stay open to everyone. On a packed night they are public overflow. The money they can make is therefore quiet-night money — exactly when the till needs it — and it does not arrive if nobody knows the rooms exist.
Why this is worth it
You stop leaving hire to luck. A dedicated page, the site, the TVs and the odd social post turn the rooms into a product people can find. Saying out loud that a big match night may turn the rooms public avoids “but I booked upstairs.” You keep the same judgement as today — yes or no — with fewer “I couldn’t get through,” and with enquiries that arrive on the nights you can actually take them.
How we implement it
Built into the website (piece 01). One page or one page per room: photos, roughly how many seated and standing, what the room is for, and that honest match-night line. A short form: name, email, phone, date, how many heads, which room if they care, a message. It goes to an inbox a manager already reads. An automatic reply says we have the message and will get back — not a confirmation, not a hold.
No online calendar, no deposit, no Stripe, no TheFork, no Calendly. Those are booking machines. They fight a walk-in pub. If you ever want deposits, that is a later, separate conversation.
How you use it
A guest finds “rooms” on the site or on Google — not by walking upstairs — and sends the form instead of hoping someone picks up at 14:00. A manager looks at the diary and replies from their mail. Same decision as today: yes when it is quiet enough, no when the rooms must stay public. On a final Saturday the page already warned that the rooms might be overflow. Short approve / not-this-date replies live on the full desk if you add it.
Version 1 and Version 2
Version 1 · in the five
Capabilities
Dedicated page(s), photos, form. Auto-ack: we have the message — not a hold. Manager replies from the inbox they already read.
Monday — or when a mail arrives
Open mail. Look at the diary. Write back. Same judgement as today.
In the build
Page and form ship with the website, in the first month.
Price
Inside the website line. No extra monthly tool.
Version 2 · full desk
Capabilities
See who wrote, on the private page. Tap interested, not this date, or a custom line. They get a fuller mail (room, date, “we will call to fix details,” the pub number). Still no booking, no deposit.
Monday
If one is waiting, it sits next to the week. One tap. Not a reservation.
In the build
Inbox and templates are part of the extra 3–5 weeks.
Price
Inside the 3–6k add-on. Still no booking engine.
Version 1 includes the light desk · Version 2 is this page grown
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The Monday desk
Version 1 already has a private page: type the week, tap once for drafts. The full control centre is that same page with rooms, mail, posts and a TV export on it.
What it is
The five are not five separate products. They already share one brief — the week. Version 1 gives you a light Monday desk to type that week and start the drafts. After that, a manager still has several logins: Brevo, Metricool, Yodeck, the room mailbox. That is normal. None of those tools is designed to be the one place you look.
Version 2 — the full control centre — is a simple, password-protected page on your site. Phone-usable. Not a new till, not a sixth subscription, not a copy of Facebook. Where we already own the data, you act here. Where a specialist tool is better, you open that tool in one tap.
The stamp card stays at the bar. Later we can deepen a pipe without throwing the five away.
Why the full desk is worth it — if you want it
It does not fill a Tuesday by itself. It gives time back: one picture of the digital week instead of five tabs and a missed room mail. Two managers see the same page. You can take it with this project, or wait until the light desk is a habit — the five do not depend on it.
Version 1 and Version 2
Version 1 · light desk · included
Capabilities
Private week editor. One tap writes the mail draft (into Brevo) and the social pack (into Metricool). No rooms inbox, no send button, no Schedule, no TV export.
Monday
Site → generate → then Brevo, Metricool, mail, Yodeck. About 15 minutes in Metricool once the drafts exist, plus the other tabs.
In the build
Inside the 1.5–2 months. It is the handoff: type the week once.
Price
In the five (site line + 500–1,000 € voice pack). Not a sixth invoice.
Version 2 · full desk · 3–6k
Capabilities
Same week. Rooms: interested / not this date / custom. Newsletter: edit and send. Social: preview, photos, times, Schedule. TV: fill presets, export a pack for Yodeck. No push to the sticks. No fake Facebook.
Monday
One page, about 15 minutes. Reply if a room is waiting. Send the mail if it is right. Schedule the posts. Export the chalkboard slide if it changed, then one drop into Yodeck.
In the build
Three to five extra weeks, when the five exist and there is something to glue. Not inside the 1.5–2 months.
Price
3,000–6,000 € once, on top of the five. Monthly tools unchanged. Feel both Mondays.
How you choose
Stay on Version 1. The five stand. You have the light desk. You can order the full page later; we re-check the tools and lock a number then.
Take Version 2 now. We build the full desk when the five are far enough along — typically the last stretch. About 3,000–6,000 € once. A mock of both Mondays is here.