Greene King’s New Booking System Shows Customers Real-Time Availability for Drinks, Dining and Sports as Appetite to Pre-Book Soars

Greene King customers can now reserve a table and pre-book for live TV sports fixtures or their favourite in-pub games more easily thanks to a multi-million-pound digital upgrade to the booking system.

The enhanced booking journey has been redesigned to show clearer messaging and live, real-time availability. It has been rolled out across 1,600 Greene King managed pubs from this month and works on mobile phone, tablet and desktop. Bookings can be made through the Greene King app or directly on pub websites.

It reinforces the growing trend to pre-book pub visits as Greene King reports it is taking an average of 35,000 booked sports covers per month – enough to fill Wembley Stadium over four times each year.

Analysis of bookings conversion rates showed the main reason that online bookings were abandoned was due to unavailability of tables at selected times and large party sizes. The latest system has clear messaging with ‘live’ availability when customers start the booking and has more information on group reservations.

It also allows customers to choose from a variety of menus to best suit the occasion they wish to celebrate and pick whether they wish to sit in the bar or restaurant, as well as showing availability to pre-order meals and review the associated costs.

A further feature of the new system is the best-in-class sports booking journey, so customers can now select which sport and which fixture they wish to book for. In addition to TV sports matches, customers can also book a slot to play pool, darts or shuffleboard at their chosen pub with these facilities.

Greene King’s chief operations officer, Clair Preston-Beer, said: “This is a significant step in the evolution of our booking system and has been designed with customers at the forefront. There is greater transparency, clearer tabs and it’s easier to use, helping to avoid any unnecessary disappointment. There is less scrolling and more clarity. You can pick when and where you want drinks, dining and drinks, or sport. We know there is little more frustrating than seeing an error message pop up when you are trying to book something online and that’s what we’re tackling so we can elevate the customer booking experience.

“Research shows people are choosing to plan ahead more when they are going out so we want our customers to know what is available as soon as they start looking to visit our pub. We will continue to monitor and improve our booking system and experience so customers can book time to spend in our pubs without any hassle or glitches. At the same time, it’s improving our overall operational excellence and helping our pub teams spend quality time with customers.”

The improvements to Greene King’s booking system are part of the company’s multi-million-pound digital investment in 2025, which includes the evolution of the customer app and the introduction of loyalty rewards. Greene King is optimising the benefits of the latest technology to improve customers’ pub experiences from the moment they start booking a drink, meal or sport, through to payment and rewards, alongside its core traditional in-person welcome and service values.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS 

Greene King is the country’s leading pub company and brewer with c.2,600 pubs, restaurants and hotels across England, Wales and Scotland. 

At Greene King we are passionate about delivering our purpose to ‘pour happiness into lives’. That’s for our customers, our team, our pub partners, our suppliers and the communities in which we live, operate and serve. Founded in 1799 with offices in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk and Burton on Trent in Staffordshire we employ around 40,000 people across the group with three divisions: Greene King pubs, Destination Brands & Ventures, and Brewing & Brands.  

• Greene King pubs: Greene King pubs is our mainstream pub brand located where people and communities come together; pubs enjoyed in cities, towns and villages throughout the country with clear ambition to be “The Nation’s Most Loved Pub Brand”. Pub Partners runs our tenanted and leased pubs business and Hive and Nest franchise pubs.  

• Destination Brands & Ventures: Destination Brands is a portfolio of distinct brands which includes Hungry Horse, Chef & Brewer, Farmhouse Inns and Flaming Grill that bring friends and family together, delivering great service, quality and value for money for a range of eating out and drinking occasions. Venture includes Hickory’s, Premium (Crafted Pubs & Metropolitan Pub Company) and Hotels which operate autonomously of Greene King’s managed pub brands.    

• Brewing & Brands covers the brewing sides of the business. Quality ales are brewed at the Westgate brewery in Bury St Edmunds and the Belhaven Brewery in Dunbar. Our industry-leading portfolio includes Greene King IPA, Old Speckled Hen, Abbot Ale, Ice Breaker and Belhaven Best and our premium beers, Level Head and Flint Eye, brewed for the modern-day drinker.

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