STAFF at a computer café have had to work from home because of ongoing issues with the internet connection.

The broadband speed at St Leonards and St Ives Village Hall was ‘too slow’ to supply Wi-Fi to everyone in the café.

Set up 15 years ago within the hall, the café offers a place for villagers to bring their computer problems and receive support from five mentors for a fee of £10.

But over recent months, the internet connection has reportedly become so poor the mentors have struggled to offer the service.

Co-founder Viv Frecknall said: “Particularly in the last three months or so, a lot of us have had to take work home with us and do it at home, because we didn’t have the capabilities to supply Wi-Fi to all the people in the room at the same time.

“One of our regulars came in Friday before last with a new iPad, he just wanted it set up. But we couldn’t get it set up because we didn’t have enough upload speed to upload the information that was needed.”

St Leonards and St Ives Village HallSt Leonards and St Ives Village Hall (Image: Viv Frecknall)

With full fibre yet to reach the area, Viv and her colleagues requested a grant from St Leonards and St Ives Parish Council to allow for the installation of satellite network Starlink, costing £680.

Despite parish councillors not supporting the grant, staff recruited company Home Network Specialist to install Starlink as part of a £75 per month contract.

With the café taking anywhere between £30 and £70 a week, staff are still hopeful for a grant from the parish council to help cover the new internet costs.

Proposing the benefits of Starlink, Viv said: “We could allow other people to use our Wi-Fi, there’s a nursery here and they could use it.

“It’s helping other people here on site.”

St Leonards and St Ives Parish Council clerk Jonathan Ross said: "It is true that the parish council didn’t support this particular grant request from the computer café for £680 to pay for the cost of setting up Starlink but that was because members wanted more information.

"So, we went back to the computer café and asked them to supply two further quotes from separate suppliers, and to confirm if there were any alternatives to Starlink and to confirm who would have access to the broadband and also has an assessment been carried out on whether fibre will be available to hall in the near future and when.

"Once this information is received by members, it would be taken back to committee to be discussed again."