Small Businesses across Oxfordshire are enjoying ther superfast broadband

Lucy Collins

Mill View Garden Centre & Coffee Shop, Wheatley

The business has been in Lucy’s family for over 50 years. Her grandfather bought the land to create a “garden market”, and her father built the Garden Centre. From fruit and veg they expanded into plants and flowers. Lucy has worked there for 10 years and oversaw the opening of the coffee shop in 2015.

“I needed faster broadband to run the business and it’s very handy for customers who come into the cafe. Since I had it installed it 2 years ago, it has revolutionised the way we do things. We are a family business and traditional but need to have this essential technology”.

Lucy’s Garden Centre sells Christmas trees and is now advertising a “Breakfast with Father Christmas” that can be easily and quickly booked online.

Ann Voss

Soft Furnishings Business, Cuxham

Ann Voss and her husband work from home and found that super-fast broadband has allowed them both to have a better work-life balance. She runs a soft furnishings company and discovered how important a faster speed of broadband could be: “I never thought that superfast broadband would be vital for my business, but it allows me to offer more to my clients. For example, fabric searches can now be done on-line saving hours of time, travel costs and also images or ideas for a scheme can be shared extremely easily too. We got a good deal with a package to suit our needs. We are actually not paying any more than we paid before upgrading, despite now getting a far superior service. I would definitely recommend it to others, especially as there are some very good deals on offer. Now that we have superfast broadband, we can enjoy all the great benefits it brings for the same price as our old super-slow service - do it!”

Helen Scott

Herb Garden, Sonning Common

In rural South Oxfordshire, but near Reading, the Herb Farm was established in 1985. It boasts a “Saxon Maze” a barn and gift shop and a coffee shop. Partner in the business, Helen Scott upgraded to faster broadband last Summer: “We used to have a lot of problems with the internet, often getting cut off, which affected our business, because being in retail we need to get card payments working. We had to ask customers to pay in cash and it just slowed us down. To have superfast broadband just makes a lot of difference in the way we can get up and running and get things done.”

Chris Shallis

The Bell Inn, Adderbury

Chris was excited to get superfast broadband installed about 18 month ago. He runs this popular pub in Adderbury, North Oxfordshire that also offers accommodation: “Nowadays everyone expects a certain speed from broadband, so all guests staying and dining here use it and appreciate having it available. We live our lives online, I do everything for the business on the internet, payments, orders, on the ipad or other devices. it’s just crucial for my business. I am very glad that I can offer this service that our customers love and expect and also benefit from it so much. It’s a huge difference from normal broadband. I really notice it when I go into a pub or café that doesn’t have it, how slow it is. It’s pretty clear that to upgrade your broadband is a sensible business decision. It makes everything run smoother and it’s a massive improvement for us at the Bell Inn”.