When Hallmaster was first created, nobody imagined it would one day support thousands of organisations across the world.

It started much more simply: as a solution to a problem close to home.

Back in the early days, Hallmaster’s founder, Bernard Hammick, had already developed a better way to manage bookings, resources and schedules within a busy family-run holiday park. He quickly recognised that other organisations managing shared spaces had the same frustrations with manual administration, paperwork, and always the risk of things slipping through the cracks, and saw an opportunity to develop a solution.

Since officially launching in 2010, Hallmaster has grown to support more than 3,500 organisations worldwide, including village halls, community centres, schools, sports facilities and a wide range of multi-use venues and businesses.

Being nominated for SaaS Company of the Year at the UK Business Tech Awards is a milestone reflecting years of hard work, customer collaboration and growth.

Built Around Real-World Needs

Hallmaster’s always been focused on solving real problems that impact real people.

Many Hallmaster customers, particularly community-led venues in rural areas, operate with limited resources, volunteers and increasing financial pressures. All the challenges that come with running a venue can quickly become time-consuming and costly.

Hallmaster helps bring bookings, invoicing, reporting and resource management into one place, helping reduce administration, and making day-to-day tasks easier.

By listening closely to customers, Hallmaster has built a reputation for providing practical tools that help venues spend less time on administration and more time serving their communities.

Deborah Clarke, Rural Evidence & Village Halls Manager at Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) said:

“Hallmaster is the go-to booking software for rural village halls, the team has worked with us at ACRE for over a decade. They have developed their booking and invoicing system by getting to know their customers and understanding their needs, which has resulted in a reliable and user-friendly product. Hallmaster’s commitment to the sector and those that support it is applaudable.”

A Year of Growth and Innovation

The nomination recognises a particularly busy and exciting period for the business.

Over the past year, Hallmaster has continued to invest in improving the software, introducing enhancements across demonstrations, bookings, reporting, automation, scheduling and overall user experience. On top of these, there have also been updates to security, GDPR compliance, and privacy.

One focus has been helping customers better understand how their venues are performing. Enhanced reporting and analytics now provide greater visibility into bookings, occupancy, invoicing, revenue and resource usage, helping operators make more informed decisions.

The team has also introduced further automation, including Book and Pay, that speeds up the booking process, greatly reducing repetitive administrative tasks and saving everyone valuable time each week.

Alongside these developments, Hallmaster welcomed more than 280 new organisations to the platform in the last year alone, while maintaining uptime above 99.9%, ensuring customers can continue to rely on the system for their day-to-day operations.

Many of these improvements have come directly from customer conversations.

Rather than building features for the sake of it, Hallmaster works closely with users to understand what will genuinely make their jobs easier. Customer feedback plays a central role in shaping the company’s roadmap, ensuring new functionality delivers practical value.

Growing Without Losing the Human Touch

Hallmaster now supports thousands of organisations worldwide, but despite this wide reach, Hallmaster has stayed responsive and closely connected to users. Decisions can be made quickly, feedback is heard directly, and customer support remains personal.

Hallmaster’s long-term relationships with customers have been as important to its success as its technology. Many customers stay with Hallmaster for five, six or more years, reflecting both the reliability of the software and the support they receive.

As the product has evolved, the team has remained committed to ensuring the system is easy to use, which is particularly important for community venues and volunteer-led organisations, where users may not be so comfortable with technology.

Overcoming Challenges

Like any growing software business, Hallmaster’s journey hasn’t been without challenges.

Transforming an internally developed tool into a fully-fledged software platform required years of continuous development and refinement. New features needed to be introduced without disrupting existing customers, and the software had to remain reliable as the user base grew.

The team also faced the challenge of reaching those customers who would benefit from Hallmaster the most – especially when there are so many general purpose booking systems available.

Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, Hallmaster chose a different path, focusing firmly on developing a deep understanding of its customers’ needs, and helping the organisations and the very people who run these vital community assets.

What the Nomination Means

Being shortlisted for SaaS Company of the Year is an important moment for Hallmaster and everyone involved in its journey.

For Bernard and the team, it represents recognition not only of the software itself, but of the relationships that have helped shape it over the years.

Bernard Hammick, Managing Director of Hallmaster, said:

“When we first developed Hallmaster, we weren’t trying to build an award-winning software company, but more that we were simply solving a problem. This nomination is a reminder that the best technology starts not with code, but with understanding people. We’re proud that what began as a solution for one family business now helps thousands of organisations operate more efficiently and sustainably. Their success continues to inspire everything we do, and we’re excited about the opportunities ahead.”

The team is also proud to be recognised alongside some of the UK’s most innovative technology businesses and values the opportunity to celebrate the role specialist software can play in supporting communities, organisations and shared spaces.

While a lot has changed since Hallmaster‘s beginnings, the company’s mission remains the same: helping organisations spend less time on administration and more time focusing on the people and communities they serve.

Whether helping a village hall increase booking income, enabling a community centre to run more efficiently, or giving volunteers the confidence to manage a busy venue with ease, Hallmaster’s success is measured by the success of the organisations that use it. As Hallmaster continues to grow, its focus remains firmly on supporting the venues that bring people together and help communities thrive.