Social Town – Venue Discovery & Event Planning App

A React Native mobile app for discovering venues and planning social events, with real-time crowd data helping users choose the right place at the right time.
social town - mobile application developed by TH-EY mockup

How It Started

Social Town came from a simple observation: when you’re planning a night out, knowing how busy a venue will be matters as much as knowing where to go. The founder wanted to build a mobile app that combined event planning with real-time venue capacity data – so users could choose not just a place, but the right time to be there.

The brief was to take that concept through Design & Discovery and into a working proof of concept – something functional enough to take to investors.

The Challenge

The core product challenge wasn’t the app itself – it was the data behind it. To show crowd levels at venues across London, the platform needed reliable traffic information for pubs, clubs, and restaurants at different times of day and week. Sourcing that data in a way that was accurate, cost-effective, and scalable enough for a proof of concept required its own research phase before development could begin.

What We Built

A React Native mobile application covering the full event planning and venue discovery workflow:

  • Event creation with date, time, location, and participant management
  • A map view with venue capacity filters, letting users find spaces that match their preferred crowd level
  • A venue review system for community-driven ratings
  • A scheduling view showing upcoming and unscheduled events, with notifications for invitations and reminders
  • In-app calendar integration for managing personal and group events in one place

How We Worked

The project ran over four months, starting with a Design & Discovery phase to establish the product concept and UX, followed by the traffic data research, and then development of the POC. The goal throughout was to produce something investor-ready – functional, well-designed, and clearly demonstrating the core concept.

Technology

The app is built with React Native for cross-platform mobile delivery, with a Java and Spring backend deployed on AWS.

Outcome

The proof of concept was delivered within the four-month timeline, covering the full feature set agreed at the outset. The client took the POC forward to seek investment – which was the goal from the start.