Website Design Case Study: A New Website for Humbie Hub, East Lothian

The best websites do more than just look good. They tell a story, reflect a brand’s personality and make it easy for visitors to understand what a business offers.

That was exactly the challenge with my recent website project for Humbie Hub in East Lothian.

Humbie Hub is far more than a village shop. It is a much-loved community destination bringing together a café, post office, local shop, rural office space, art exhibitions, events and holiday accommodation all under one roof. It is a place that serves the local community while also welcoming visitors exploring East Lothian and the surrounding countryside.

When the team approached me, their existing website no longer reflected the quality, warmth or variety of what Humbie Hub had become, it was just a little outdated and didn't really feel like them anymore.

They needed a website that felt modern and professional while still keeping the friendly, authentic personality people know and love.

The Brief

The challenge with the Humbie Hub website was that it needed to wear a lot of hats.

This was not simply a café website or a retail website. The new site had to showcase multiple parts of the business clearly, including:

• The village shop and post office
• The café and food offering
• Art exhibitions and creative events
• Rural office and studio space available to rent
• Holiday accommodation for visitors to East Lothian
• Future e-commerce capabilities

The website also needed to feel welcoming to several very different audiences. Local residents, visitors to East Lothian, artists, remote workers, tourists and potential event attendees all needed to quickly find what they were looking for.

From a website design perspective, clarity and user experience were key.

Choosing the Right Platform

We chose Shopify for the new Humbie Hub website.

While many people think of Shopify purely as an e-commerce platform, it is actually an excellent option for growing businesses that may want flexibility in the future.

For Humbie Hub, Shopify gave us room to grow.

The team wanted the option to add an online shop later, sell tickets to events and exhibitions, and create a website that could evolve with the business over time.

As a Shopify website designer in Scotland, this is often something I discuss with clients. Choosing the right platform is about more than what you need today. It is about making sure your website can support your future plans too.

The Style and Feel

The visual direction for the site was incredibly important.

Humbie Hub already has a wonderful personality in real life. It feels welcoming, community-focused, creative and relaxed - I should know, I've spent many hours there over the years! I wanted the website to reflect that same atmosphere.

We took a much more modern and confident design approach while keeping the site approachable and authentic.

Large imagery was key to bringing the space to life, helping visitors immediately get a feel for the Hub, the café and the surrounding area.

We balanced this with clean layouts, clear navigation and strong page structure so visitors could easily explore the many different parts of the business without feeling overwhelmed.

Because there are so many aspects to Humbie Hub, careful website planning and structure became just as important as the visual design.

SEO and Local Visibility

A huge part of any new website build is making sure people can actually find it.

For Humbie Hub, we carefully considered local SEO throughout the website structure and content.

This included creating content and page structures around the kinds of things people may genuinely search for, such as:

• Café in East Lothian
• Things to do in East Lothian
• Village café East Lothian
• Holiday accommodation East Lothian
• Rural office space Scotland
• Art exhibitions East Lothian
• Community hub East Lothian

A beautiful website doesn't mean much if the right people cannot find it.

That is why, when you build a site you have to think about more than just the way it looks (although making it look good is good practice too!)...

The Result

The finished website feels far more aligned with what Humbie Hub is today.

It is bold, modern and easier to navigate while still feeling warm, welcoming and rooted in the local community.

Visitors can quickly understand everything Humbie Hub offers, whether they are stopping by for coffee, looking for a unique holiday stay, exploring local art events or searching for office space in a beautiful rural setting.

Projects like this are always particularly rewarding because the website is supporting something genuinely valuable to the local area.

And, having spent many happy hours there myself, this one felt especially lovely to work on.

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If you are a Scottish small business looking for help with a new website, Shopify website design, Squarespace website design, or a website refresh that genuinely reflects your business, I would love to hear from you.