Say cheese: quality food photography at the heart of web design
Client: Judges
Completed: November, 2017
Judges is a restaurant and cocktail bar overlooking the village green in Northaw — a beautiful setting, housed within a meticulously restored Grade II listed building.
With the venue ready to open its doors, the Judges team approached Union 10 with a clear brief: create a website that would launch their new business in style, capturing both the food and the atmosphere that make Judges special.
Great restaurant websites live or die by their imagery — so our first move was to commission talented photographer Richard Fairclough.
We’d worked with Richard before (including on Rosa’s Thai Café) and knew he’d deliver exceptional restaurant photography with the warmth and character needed to bring Judges to life online.
Because the photography would sit at the heart of the design, we made sure Richard captured a broad mix of shots — food, cocktails, interiors, details and ambience — all delivered at the right sizes and quality for web. We’ll often art direct shoots on-site to keep everything running smoothly, but on this project Richard worked directly with the Judges team and had the run of the restaurant pre-opening.
The results were genuinely stunning — imagery that captured the visual presence of the Judges brand, with food photography that feels fresh, natural and properly mouth-watering.
(For other clients — such as LOM Architecture — we’ve provided full art direction too, creating a detailed photography brief and leading the shoot on-site to meet specific design needs.)
With Richard’s imagery in place, we created a simple, polished website that lets the photography do the talking.
The design showcases Judges’ dishes and cocktails front and centre, while highlighting the building’s unique character and relaxed atmosphere. For potential customers, it offers an immediate sense of the experience — enticing, informative, and easy to navigate.
As a start-up, Judges needed a website that was affordable to build and easy to manage long-term. We delivered a cost-effective WordPress website that gives the team full control of their content.
Key functionality included:
→ Menu builder tools, so seasonal menus can be updated quickly (without re-designing and uploading PDFs).
→ Searchable menu content, supporting SEO and improving visibility in Google.
→ Integration with Welcome Table, streamlining online bookings and cancellations — saving staff time and making life easier for customers.
Following launch, we delivered WordPress training for the Judges team, ensuring they felt confident managing updates going forward.
If you’re launching something new, our start-up design package is ideal for new ventures. In the restaurant world, this typically includes branding, web design and SEO, menu design and business stationery — but we’ll always tailor the package around what matters most to you.
Written by Jane Comar + Reviewed by James Hofton
Last updated: January 14, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Union 10 Design