Hoppy Connections: Faster broadband on tap at Lincolnshire village pub

Villagers in North Kelsey, Lincolnshire are raising a glass to Openreach engineers after they connected the community to Ultrafast full fibre broadband.

More than 820 homes - including nearby South Kelsey, Howsham, Moortown and North Kelsey Moor – can now connect to some of the fastest broadband speeds available.

One of the first places to benefit is North Kelsey’s popular village pub, The Butcher’s Arms.

Owned for 27 years by locals David and Judy Wood, the pub is established at the heart of the local community, acting as a popular meeting place, with regular live music and street food evenings.

Building a full fibre network to North Kelsey took Openreach engineers around 6 months and involved laying more than 35 miles of fibre cable.

David Wood is delighted full fibre is now available: “When we were approached by Openreach to be part of their full fibre build, I knew it was too good an opportunity to turn down. I spoke to a few people in the village, and we quickly got enough interest together to apply for government vouchers, which allowed the engineers to start work.

“Firstly, it’s great news for the village, but also for us here at the pub. Things like our security cameras, tills and payment systems are all connected via broadband, so our connection needs to be reliable. Having remote access to these systems gives us, as the owners, the ability to know exactly what’s going on here. Things like knowing in real time which products are being sold so we can see what we’re going to need to buy.

“But it’s about the customers first and foremost and giving them a reliable and fast broadband connection. Because if you don’t give people the right experience, they will go somewhere else.

“We’ve noticed in recent years that lots of people that come here do want to connect to fast broadband. Sometimes it’s just that they want to watch a different football match to their friends, but we also see homeworkers bringing their laptop in and finishing their work here, particularly towards the end of the day.”

North Kelsey is one of a number of areas across Lincolnshire where Openreach is making full fibre available. So far, reaching more than 95,000 homes and businesses.

Across the whole of the Midlands, Openreach engineers have made full fibre available to 1,900 pubs, bars and restaurants, 1,500 places of worship, and 1,100 village halls.

Full fibre is the UK's most reliable[1] broadband technology, so people will experience a lot less buffering and slowdown at busier times.

Residents can enjoy a host of online services and entertainment, with seamless streaming and smooth online gaming. The technology also supports day-to-day, business critical tasks like video calls, banking and online customer interactions.

Wendy Sycamore, Openreach’s regional engagement manager, said: “We’re proud of our work to connect North Kelsey and the surrounding areas. It was clear from the outset that this community really wanted fibre broadband and they rallied together to make it happen. I’d like to thank our engineers and the local community for their help in making things run as smoothly as possible. It was good to go back and hear about the difference our work is making.”

Openreach has already made Full Fibre broadband available to more than 12.5 million homes and businesses across the UK, as part of an overall plan to reach 25 million UK premises by the end of 2026. Check if you can get it at openreach.com

[1] UK’s most reliable broadband technology: Ofcom UK Home Broadband Performance report September 2023.”