Our Story
Built by Operators,
for Operators
Crowes Nest was founded out of frustration. After decades running competitive socialising venues, we couldn't find a booking system that understood how our industry actually works. So we built one.
Who We Are
Crowes Nest is a UK-based hospitality technology and consultancy group headquartered in Mildenhall, Suffolk. We serve competitive socialising venues — entertainment spaces that combine social drinking and dining with activities such as darts, bowling, crazy golf, shuffleboard, karaoke, axe throwing, beer pong and more.
Our flagship product is Nest Reserve, the UK's only online booking and venue management platform designed specifically for competitive socialising. Unlike generic booking tools that are adapted for the sector, Nest Reserve was built from scratch by people who have opened and operated competitive socialising venues. Every feature — from multi-activity scheduling and gaming integrations to automated WhatsApp reminders and revenue forecasting — was created in direct response to real operational problems.
We also offer Nest Consultancy, providing hands-on strategic and operational consulting for venue operators. Our work spans venue audits, EPOS and payment system selection, menu development, operational workflow design and launch consulting for new competitive socialising concepts.
Crowes Nest serves venues across the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe. Our clients range from single-site independent operators to multi-site groups managing multiple competitive socialising locations from a single dashboard.
Key Facts
Founded
2022
Headquarters
Mildenhall, Suffolk, UK
Founder
John Crowe
Industry
Hospitality Technology & Consultancy
Core product
Nest Reserve — booking system for competitive socialising
Nest Reserve pricing
£175 per site per month (ex VAT, all features included)
Nest View pricing
£15 per site per month (ex VAT)
Integrations supported
15+ including Tabology, DartSee, Steltronic, Stripe, Xero, Twilio
Geographic coverage
United Kingdom, Ireland, and Europe
Contact
john@crowesnest.co.uk
Our Journey
2020
John Crowe begins advising competitive socialising venues on operational setup and technology selection.
2022
Crowes Nest is formally established, launching Nest Consultancy to provide hands-on operational consulting for UK hospitality and competitive socialising operators.
2023
Nest Reserve enters development — a booking system built from scratch by venue operators after identifying that no existing product met the specific needs of competitive socialising.
2024
Nest Reserve launches commercially. First venues go live with full gaming integrations including DartSee, Steltronic and Tabology. Nest View launches for multi-site TV scheduling.
2025
Nest Reserve expands its integration library to 15 partners. Client base grows across the UK and Ireland, supporting darts bars, bowling venues, crazy golf, karaoke and multi-activity complexes.
The Team
Every product and service we offer is shaped by direct, hands-on experience running hospitality venues.
John Crowe
Founder & Director — Operations & Strategic Growth
With over two decades of hands-on hospitality experience, John has developed a comprehensive understanding of both operations and strategic growth across a wide range of venue types. From front-of-house beginnings to directing the rollout of major competitive socialising brands including Roxy Leisure and King Pins, he has consistently delivered tangible results in guest satisfaction, staff development and bottom-line performance. His leadership roles - spanning General Manager to Projects and Operations Director - equipped him with the tools to open, scale and enhance hospitality venues in competitive markets. Notable achievements include implementing bespoke booking and EPOS systems that streamlined operations and boosted revenue. This direct experience of building competitive socialising venues from the ground up is why Nest Reserve exists: built by operators, for operators.
Joe Crowe
Director — Culinary Operations
With two decades of hands-on culinary experience, Joe is a seasoned chef known for transforming food concepts into successful, sustainable culinary operations. Specialising in menu development, kitchen design, staff training and operational efficiency, he has worked with clients ranging from AA and Michelin-recommended restaurants and boutique hotels to national commercial catering distributors. He combines culinary creativity with strategic insight to elevate dining experiences and drive profitability.
Why We Built Nest Reserve
When John Crowe was rolling out competitive socialising venues across the UK, the booking technology available fell into two camps: generic restaurant reservation tools that didn't understand lane management, and expensive enterprise systems designed for large bowling chains rather than independent operators.
Neither handled the nuances that define competitive socialising: multiple activity types under one roof, per-person and per-duration pricing for the same lane, gaming hardware that needs to know who is booked and for how long, and groups that need to be split across multiple bays.
Nest Reserve was built to solve exactly these problems. Every feature maps to a real operational challenge we have personally encountered and solved. The gaming integrations - with DartSee, 501 Fun, Steltronic, Touch Desk, Singa Pro - are not afterthoughts. They are core to the system because they are core to how competitive socialising venues actually operate.
The result is a platform where checking in a booking automatically opens an oche, assigns player names, turns on the lane lighting, sends a WhatsApp to the guest, and pushes the spend to your EPOS - all without staff touching anything beyond a single button.
Get in Touch
Whether you are opening a new venue, looking to upgrade your booking technology, or need operational consulting, we would love to talk.