Finding venues & events
There are two main ways to find somewhere to go: browse your Home screen, or Search for exactly what you want.
Home is the first thing you see, with a hero carousel up top and a set of scrollable rails beneath:
| Rail | What it shows |
|---|---|
| New on Sidedoor | The latest venues to join, with guest lists and reservations. |
| Upcoming events | What’s on soon, tagged Tonight, Tomorrow or a date. |
| Connections active tonight | Friends from your network who are out tonight. If it’s quiet you’ll see “No one out tonight”. |
| Nearby | Venues close to you, sorted by distance. |
If location is off, a “See venues nearby” card lets you switch it on so the Nearby rail can find places around you.
Search
Section titled “Search”Tap Search in the bottom navigation to open the search screen. Type into the “Search venues, events…” bar, or tap Filters to narrow things down. The filter button shows a badge with how many filters you’ve applied.
The filter sheet lets you set:
| Filter | Options |
|---|---|
| Intent | Event, Guest list, Table reservation, or Private hire. |
| Date | The day you want to go. |
| Type | The kind of event (shown when you’re looking for an Event). |
| Genre | The music you’re after. |
| Cuisine | The food on offer. |
| Party size | From 1 up to 40 people. |
| Table time | The time window you want a table (shown for Table reservation). |
If nothing matches, you’ll see “Nothing here yet”.
Suggest a venue
Section titled “Suggest a venue”Can’t find a place you love? From an empty search you can tap “Suggest a venue”, enter the venue name and address, and send it to the Sidedoor team.
Venue pages
Section titled “Venue pages”Tapping a venue opens its page, where you’ll find:
- A hero image and the venue type badge.
- An info card with address, phone, email and website.
- An About section.
- Experiences - branded dining products the venue offers, like a Sunday Lunch or a Tasting Menu (shown when it has any). Tap one to book it directly.
- What’s on - a rail of the venue’s upcoming events.
- Opening hours for all seven days.
- Private hire (shown when the venue offers it) - an overview with available days and times, and a “Make enquiry” button to send the venue a private-hire request.
Two sticky buttons sit at the bottom: Book to start a table booking or guest-list request, and Gift a voucher (shown when the venue offers them) to buy a voucher.
Event pages
Section titled “Event pages”An event page shows a hero image and tag, the venue it’s at, who it’s hosted by, contact details, an About section and a When section with the date and time. Tap Book this event to get tickets or guest-list entry.
If any of your network connections are going, a “Get social” tile shows who’s attending, with an “Invite a friend” button. It appears when at least one connection who shares their plans is going.