Pub where 'you can download a film quicker than pull a pint'

The Green Dragon pub in Cowley is the  first business to go live under Gloucestershire County Council's 'Fastershire' broadband scheme, in partnership with provider Gigaclear.

Broadband speeds of up to 950 Mbps upload and 950 Mbps download were achieved with the switch on meaning that staff, customers and guests were able to download a TV episode in 36 seconds, nearly 15 minutes faster than before.

The ultrafast broadband scheme was part of a £7 million investment from Gigaclear and £3m national funding from BDUK and Gloucestershire County Council. It was the first project in the country to appoint an Internet service provider other than BT, under the government subsidised scheme.

The full rollout schedule will now see areas across the county be provided with similar services by 2017.

Simon Haly, who with his wife manages the Green Dragon Inn, said: "We never expected to get anything like this so quickly, especially as we're right in the middle of the countryside.

"Historically we've hardly had any speed at all; it has been like dial-up. So to go from that to this level of record-breaking speed is incredible."

"It's going to have a big impact on our business too. For instance, around 10-20% of our trade is business-related; we've nine guest rooms and two function rooms.

"Being able to better serve this community is really important. In fact we had a big business customer say that they'd no longer be able to use us for their meetings if our broadband didn't improve - and that was a year's worth of bookings."

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said: “Fastershire’s partnership with Gigaclear is producing ultrafast results just eight weeks after the first digging began, and I’m looking forward to how local residents and businesses like the Green Dragon take advantage of the benefits of enhanced broadband.”