Web development agency in Hampshire: Custom websites that work with your bookings or shop.
You need a site that loads quickly, takes bookings or orders without fuss, and that your team can change without calling a developer. We build that in our Southampton studio.
Trusted by The Fat Duck, Moor Hall, The Kirkmichael Arms and Fortunate Son
engineWeb development in Hampshire, for sites that take bookings and sell
Beyond is a web development agency in Southampton, Hampshire. If your website takes bookings, sells things or changes every week, it has to load fast, work every time and be easy for your team to update. That's the work we do, for established businesses whose website has real work to do.
We build each site from scratch, so it does what your business needs and nothing it doesn't. You get the code, the connections to your booking system or shop, an editing system your team can use, and people to call after launch.
Compared with a template or a large agency, the difference is who you deal with. The senior team that plans, draws, photographs and codes your site works in one Southampton studio, and you talk to them directly.
What we build
- 01
Websites
Designed and coded from scratch, with the illustration, photos and film made in the same studio.
- 02
Online shops on Shopify
Shopify, a popular shop system, handles products, payments and orders. We build the pages your customers shop on.
- 03
Bookings, menus and games
Booking forms linked to your reservation system, menus your team updates, and pictures or games to explore.
- 04
Planning and screen design
Working out which pages you need and how people move between them, before anyone writes code.
What a well-built website does for your business
How a site looks is only part of it. These five things decide whether it earns its keep, and they're what a developer is for. Ask any agency you talk to, us included, how they'll handle each one.
Five things to expect
- 01
It loads quickly on a phone
Many of your visitors will arrive on a phone, sometimes on a weak signal. We build pages that stay quick even when they carry a lot of photos, film or illustration.
- 02
Bookings and orders go where they should
Your booking form sends reservations straight into the system you already use, so nobody types them in twice.
- 03
Your team can make changes
You change menus, opening times, events and photos yourselves. Changing a menu is easy and breaking the layout is hard.
- 04
People can find it on Google
Fast pages and tidy code help search engines read your site. The Kirkmichael Arms saw website traffic rise 45% in the three months after launch, with SEO (work to help you show up in Google) alongside.
- 05
Someone looks after it
After launch, you call the people who built it for fixes, changes and new features.
How a web development project runs
The Fat Duck: a booking site that holds up on any device
Heston Blumenthal's three-Michelin-star restaurant needs a website that works every time someone tries to book, and one that feels like the food: playful and a little strange. We've worked with The Fat Duck Group since 2016.
The site opens clean and focused on booking a table, then gets stranger the further you scroll, with more of Heston's character creeping up the page. We built it to run fast on any device. Since launch it has brought in more bookings, fewer visitors leave after one page, and the group makes more money through the website.
“Beyond's creativity, attention to detail and ability to deliver projects while working on short deadlines has been fantastic. We are long term collaborators on many projects, and have always been able to stand out thanks to their work.”
Websites we've developed
Explore our web services
Web development questions
What does a web development agency do?
It builds your website. It writes the code, connects the site to things like your booking system or shop, and keeps it working after launch. A design agency decides how the site looks. At Beyond the developers and designers work in the same Southampton studio, so you brief one team and it takes your site all the way to launch.
What's the difference between web design and web development?
Web design decides what your site looks like, which pages it has and how people find their way around. Web development builds it: the code, the editing system, the speed and the links to your other systems. You need both. If you're mostly thinking about the look, our web design page covers that side, and the same team does both.
What do you build websites with?
Next.js and React, which prepare each page before it reaches the visitor, so pages load fast and Google can read them. Your team edits words and pictures in Sanity. GSAP runs the animation and Tailwind CSS keeps the layout tidy on every screen. Sites built this way stay quick even when they carry a lot of photos, film and illustration.
Do you build on WordPress or Drupal?
No. We build on Next.js and React, with Sanity for editing, because it gives us more freedom with design and animation and keeps pages fast. If you need someone to look after an existing WordPress or Drupal site, a specialist in that system will serve you better than we would.
Can our team update the website ourselves?
Yes. We set up Sanity, the editing system, around the way your team works, so you can change menus, events, products and pages without touching any code. The editing screens are set up so it's hard to break a page by mistake. We show your team how it all works when the site goes live.
Can you connect the website to our booking system or shop?
Usually, yes. We link your booking form to the reservation system you already use, so bookings arrive where your team already looks. Moor Hall's guests, for example, book straight into the restaurant's own system from its site. For online shops we usually build on Shopify. Tell us what you use on the first call and we'll check how it connects before we price anything.
How much does website development cost?
We don't publish prices, because every site is different. The cost depends on how many kinds of page you need, which systems the site connects to, and how much illustration, photography or film it needs. After a free call we write down what the site has to do and price it, so you know the cost before anything starts.
How long does it take to build a website?
That depends on the size of the site, what it connects to and how much artwork it needs, so we agree a timeline with you before work starts. If you're working to a fixed date, like an opening or a new season's menu, tell us on the first call and we'll plan back from it.
Do you look after the website after launch?
Yes. We stay on for fixes, updates and new features, and we can run SEO once the site is live. If something breaks or your business changes, you deal with the people who built the site and know how it works. Some of our clients have stayed with us for years.
Are you a web development company in Hampshire?
Yes. Our studio is in Southampton, close to established businesses in Winchester, Portsmouth and the rest of Hampshire. We built the website for Incognito, the cocktail bars whose flagship is in Winchester. We also build for clients elsewhere in the UK, in France and in the US.
Ready when you are
Tell us what it needs to do.
Tell us what the site has to do, what it needs to connect to, and where your current one falls short. We'll reply within one working day and set up a free call to talk it through.
What happens next
- 1You'll hear back from us within one working day.
- 2We'll set up a free, no-obligation call with the people who'd actually do the work. Everything is made in-house.
- 3You get a clear proposal with scope, timeline and cost, usually within a week of our call.
“Working with The Place Beyond was an exceptional experience. What impressed me most was how patiently they listened, asked the right questions, and transformed complex ideas into a website that perfectly brought my vision to life. For anyone who wants a partner that truly ‘gets it’ – even when your brief feels hard to articulate – The Place Beyond is the clear choice.”
