Bernard Hammick is the founder and managing director of Hallmaster, the online booking and invoicing system used by village halls, community centres, sports venues and other bookable spaces.
The software launched officially in 2010, and the company says it now supports more than 3,500 organisations worldwide, having added more than 280 in the past year.
In June 2026 Hallmaster was shortlisted for SaaS Company of the Year at the UK Business Tech Awards, and they are currently a finalist in the Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards. Based in Poole, Dorset, he tells Business Matters how a family campsite and one local village hall set the course for the business.
What do you currently do at Hallmaster?
I am Managing Director of Hallmaster, so my role covers a bit of everything, from looking at the direction of the business and how we develop the software, to making sure we are continuing to meet our customers’ needs.
I have always believed you need to stay close to the people using your product, so that is a big day to day focus. Their feedback helps us understand what is working, what could be better and where we should focus next.
As the business has grown, my role has evolved, but that connection with our customers remains very important to me.
What was the inspiration behind your business?
It started with a problem of my own. We ran a family campsite, and I became interested in how the internet could make things easier for both us and our customers, back in the days when websites were just emerging.
I started building websites and eventually developed a booking system for a local village hall that wanted to show availability and take bookings online. I soon realised that many other venues had the same problems with paperwork, double bookings and keeping track of payments.
Hallmaster grew from there. I was not setting out to build a huge software company; I was trying to find a practical solution to a problem that affected real people.
Who do you admire?
I have a great deal of admiration for the people who give their time to keep community venues running. Village hall trustees, volunteers and committee members often take on enormous responsibility alongside day jobs, family admin and other commitments.
They do it because they care about their communities, not because they want to spend their evenings managing spreadsheets or chasing invoices. I think that commitment deserves enormous respect.
I am also inspired by people who remain open to learning and improving, whatever their age or background. You do not need to be a technology expert to make a positive change, but not letting that hold you back can be hard.
Alongside these individuals, organisations deserve recognition too: schools, town councils and local authorities, sports venues, religious centres and local small businesses, which band together to breathe life into communities across the UK and act as a support network for those who need it.
Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
Like most businesses, we have learned a great deal along the way. Knowing what I know now, I would have been more confident earlier on about how much potential there was in what we were building.
In the early days there was understandably a lot of pushback, as people were hesitant about moving bookings to this new space called “online”, and broadband was not even widely available. It took time and a great deal of perseverance for the people running venues and businesses to appreciate my vision of how the internet could help, and to see the very real benefits.
But those experiences taught us patience, alongside the importance of listening to feedback. I would not want to lose that practical, customer-led approach, because it is a big part of what has made Hallmaster what it is today.
What defines your way of doing business?
I would say it comes down to listening, being practical and doing what you say you will do. We do not develop Hallmaster features just because they sound impressive; they are there to be part of a system that is valued and used by our customers. We want to understand the problem first and make sure what we build genuinely helps.
Because we built the entire system online, again a rather revolutionary concept at the time, we are still able to be agile and adaptable in the way it is used.
We also recognise that good software is only part of the service. People appreciate knowing there is a real person at the end of the phone who understands the system and can help them. We have built long-standing relationships by being flexible, approachable, reliable and willing to keep improving. Ultimately, our success depends on helping our customers succeed.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
Start by solving a real problem. Do not assume you know what people need; talk to them, listen carefully and be prepared to change your approach within the bounds of your own research and core idea.
You do not have to have everything worked out from day one, and you certainly do not need to build something complicated to make a difference. It is easy, and often tempting, to deviate from your plan; however, sticking to your guns has been essential for us.
Be patient, learn from mistakes and look after the people who put their trust in you. For us, a solution that began in one family business has grown to support thousands of organisations and businesses in the UK and across the world. You never quite know where a good idea might lead if you keep working at it.
