An East Yorkshire business ensuring regional enterprise bucks a national rural broadband struggle is raising the glass to the ongoing success of a client it helped save.
Quickline Communications is rolling out its fixed broadband network in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, from its Willerby headquarters. And in doing so it is toasting the great strides made by a firm across Hull, Great Newsome Brewery, who put its ability to stay in business down to jumping on board.
The Holderness firm was doing minimal online trade pre-Covid, and having signed up just before the pandemic, hasn’t looked back. And having emerged stronger after web sales went from 2 per cent to 90 per cent as lockdown restrictions hit, it has also diversified further with its enhanced digital footprint.
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Great Newsome, which uses barley from its own fields to produce its beer, now also operates a firewood sales business and offers glamping and holiday home retreats on its farm – all of which have been made possible by its improved internet service.
Matthew Hodgson, director of Great Newsome Brewery, said: “When Covid hit and we went into lockdown, everything changed and the only way we could survive during that period was to deliver straight to our customers.
“Thankfully, we’d switched to Quickline to give us fast, reliable internet. Previously, it had been very patchy at best, and we wouldn’t have survived without the improved service. Now, it’s essential to our business. Our software is all cloud-based and we need broadband for everything from taking orders online, telephone sales and taking payments, to things like social media to promote our businesses.
“It’s also meant we’ve been able to expand to launch our firewood business and glamping and holiday home breaks. It really shows the crucial importance of broadband in rural communities like ours.”
Quickline now passes more than 300,000 premises with its next-generation fixed wireless broadband network. It is blended with full fibre to create the UK’s only gigabit hybrid network.
The ongoing rollout will see Quickline bring broadband speeds of up to 1 Gbps to a further 55,000 homes and businesses this year.
It comes as a recent report by the Federation of Small Businesses - The Growth Belt: Supporting Rural Small Businesses - highlighted the way rural small businesses are struggling against a backdrop of unreliable broadband.
Quickline chief executive Sean Royce said: “I’ve known about Great Newsome Brewery for some time and am a fan of their beer, so I’m delighted we’ve been able to support their business. Covid changed everything and showed how important fast and reliable broadband is for everyone, in all communities, and for businesses to survive and thrive.
“The recent FSB report highlights how rural communities have been neglected by major broadband providers for years, which is why we’re on a mission to reach these areas. At Quickline, we don’t just sell broadband and build networks, we change people’s lives, and Great Newsome Brewery is a prime example of that.”
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