The Hawthorns Business Centre in Staunton can now access faster broadband as a result of an infrastructure upgrade by the Glide network, under the Fastershire Broadband Project.

Businesses on the estate are able to access Fastershire's business broadband grant, which is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The grant targets businesses that are unable to access faster broadband and provides up to 100 per cent of the capital installation cost to fund superfast broadband access.

Glide, a leader in fibre infrastructure and connectivity, built its independent fibre network to each business on the estate, providing broadband speeds of up to 1Gbt/s, 100 times faster than before and allowing them to operate without the constraints of slow broadband.

Tim Pilcher, CEO of Glide said: "We are delighted to support Fastershire with their efforts to deliver faster broadband services across more rural areas of the UK. The partnership has been a major success in providing seamless broadband to a number of sites."

The business centre is situated on the Hawthorns Estate Farm and is run by the Padfield family.

Owner, Chris Padfield said: "The centre has always been very popular because of our rural location and close proximity to Gloucester and the M5, but the first question is always, 'how good is your broadband?'.

"The new connection has transformed broadband access for business tenants so they can continue to grow their businesses and we can offer workspaces to a far wider range of businesses."

Councillor Patrick Molyneux, cabinet member for Economy, Education and Skills, said: "Currently 94 per cent of Gloucestershire's homes and businesses can benefit from a superfast broadband service and this is set to increase to 97 per cent over the next two years.

"Through Fastershire's business and the new community grants, we're working to ensure every property can access the broadband they need."