We spent a day going through Northampton business websites, from town centre bars to Duston plumbers, looking for the ones that actually do a job rather than just exist. Not the prettiest. The ones where you land, find what you came for, and can book, buy or call without hunting. Here are twenty-two, each with the one thing it gets right.
Three of them are ours, and we say so where they appear. The other nineteen were built by somebody else, and they are here because they deserve to be. Everything below was checked in September 2026. Prices and hours move, so treat those as a snapshot.
Food, drink and places to go
nourish, coffee shop and açai bar, Duston. Every bowl, bagel and matcha is priced on the page, with a button straight to the bowls and a map link to the Duston shop. A first-time visitor knows what it costs and how to get there without leaving the homepage. Ours, and the site that took them to first in Northampton for açai.
La Famiglia, Italian restaurant, Castilian Street. Menu prices are printed on the site next to a book-now button and real photographs of the Taylor Memorial Hall interior. So many restaurants hide the menu in a PDF. This one just shows you.
Room Thirty One, bar and restaurant, St Giles Street. Bottomless brunch, sharer boards, back-room hire and full venue hire each get their own page. Group bookings are half a bar's income and here they are treated like it, instead of a generic events blurb.
The Hopping Hare, hotel and restaurant, Duston. Two separate buttons in the header, one to book a room and one to book a table, each going into a live booking system. Daily food service times sit on the homepage next to whatever tasting menu is on that month.
Parkway Coffee, coffee shop and bar, Weston Favell. The full drinks and food menu with prices, an events calendar, a loyalty sign-up, and opening hours split by day so you do not turn up to a closed door on a Sunday.
Spun Out, record shop, Gold Street. Nearly every vinyl listing has playable clips of several tracks. You can listen before you walk down and buy it. Twenty-four years in business and the site is doing exactly what the shop counter does.
Hair and barbers
Aces Barber Shop, College Street Mews. Prices on the homepage, and each of the three barbers has his own booking link. You book the person, not the shop, which is how people actually choose a barber.
Wiles Studios, St Edmund's Street. A full price list tiered by stylist level, graduate through to principal, so nobody has to ask. The book-online button goes straight into the diary.
Finn and Co, St Giles Street. Eight named team members with photos before you get anywhere near the booking button. Choosing a stylist by face is a small thing that removes a big hesitation.
Clinics and health
44 Derngate, private dental clinic, town centre. A fees page with real figures for exams, crowns, implants and whitening, alongside 0% finance and a free virtual consultation form embedded on the homepage. Private dentistry almost never publishes prices. This one does and it is disarming.
Cliftonville Dental, The Avenue. Same idea, done well. A public fees page with specific numbers, and a menu organised by treatment rather than by "about us". You navigate by what is wrong with your tooth.
The Physical Therapy Clinic, Abington Avenue. Prices per service and per duration, book online in one click, and full weekly hours including 9pm evenings on the homepage. For a physio the question is always "can I get in after work" and this answers it.
Padel Power, padel and reformer pilates, Kingsfield. Book a court is the main button and it goes straight into the booking app. The membership page states actual numbers, annual fee, advance booking window, court discounts, class price, rather than "enquire for prices". Ours.
Dallington Fitness, gym, Dallington. "Join now from £34 a month" is the headline, and the facilities and 5am opening are listed without a click. A gym site that leads with the price is a gym that is confident in it.
Professional services
Choice Wills, will writing, Wootton Fields. One repeated call to action, arrange a free consultation, backed by a five-star Google rating and named testimonials. Every service, wills, lasting powers of attorney, trusts, has its own page. Ours, and now first on Google locally for wills.
N-Accounting, accountants, Wellingborough Road. Seven named team members with their qualifications on the homepage, and a same-day response target stated in writing. That is a commitment a client can hold them to, which is why it works.
Borneo Martell Turner Coulston, solicitors, Billing Road. "Pricing" is in the main navigation, with separate cost pages for conveyancing, probate, debt recovery and tribunals. For a law firm that is genuinely rare, and it is the thing every prospective client wants to know first.
MWK Architects, chartered architects, Ecton. Ten full case studies of real buildings, credentials displayed, enquiry form on the page. Architects sell on the work and this site lets the work do it.
Studios and creative
Black Revolver Studio, photography studio hire, Dunster Street. A gallery of twenty-plus real shots taken in the converted Victorian leather warehouse does all the selling. One page describes the space, and the call to action is a plain email address. Nothing in the way.
The Lodge Recording Studio, Abington Square. Day rates published, gear list published, and the free accommodation perk right there on the page. Musicians comparing studios want three things and this gives them all three.
Trades and shops
Azure Plumbing and Heating, Northampton-wide. Gas Safe registration number shown with a clickable verification logo, the founder and every engineer named with a photo, and the phone number repeated down the page. Trust, then the number. That is the whole job of a trades website.
Cotton Buds Florists, Far Cotton. Arrangements priced on the product pages, shop hours in the header, and a clear choice of order online, phone, or come in. Local customers are given the local option rather than forced through a checkout.
What they have in common
Read back through and the pattern is obvious. Prices on the page. Booking or calling in one tap. Real photographs of real people and real rooms, not stock. Opening hours where you can see them. None of it is clever. All of it is missing from most small business websites, including a lot of expensive ones.
If you want to see how yours measures up, run it through our free website health check, which takes about thirty seconds. And if you are on this list and want to tell people, please do. You earned it.
Think we missed one?
We probably did. Northampton has a lot of good independent businesses and we could not look at all of them. If yours, or one you love, belongs here, email tom@getjuno.uk with the link and we will take a look for the next update.
Frequently asked questions
What makes a small business website good?
It gets the visitor to the thing they came for fast. Prices on the page, booking or a phone number in one tap, real photos, opening hours visible, and clear pages for each service. Design matters less than whether the site answers the customer's first question.
Should a small business put prices on its website?
Almost always yes. Every business on this list that publishes prices, from barbers to dentists to solicitors, removes the biggest reason people do not get in touch. Hiding prices rarely wins the enquiry, it just sends it to someone who shows them.
How were these Northampton websites chosen?
We looked at owner-run, independent businesses in Northampton, excluded chains and franchises, checked every site loaded and belonged to a real local business, and picked the ones with one specific thing done well that others could copy.
Are any of these websites built by Juno?
Three are: nourish, Choice Wills and Padel Power, and each is marked as ours in the list. The other nineteen were built by other designers and are included on merit.
How do I get my business added to this list?
Email tom@getjuno.uk with the link. We update the list periodically and will take a look at any independent Northampton business that is doing something well on its site.
How can I check how good my own website is?
Run it through Juno's free website health check at getjuno.uk/tools/website-health-check. It scores speed, mobile, SEO basics and security in about thirty seconds and tells you what to fix.