Built by the King of Mercia and sat in glorious countryside on the Offa’s Dyke path, The Hunter’s Moon Inn is the focal point of Llangattock Lingoed. 

Yet this tranquil village, north of Abergavenny, is suffering from an appalling quality of internet service – prompting angry residents to suggest that 8th Century residents from the court of King Offa would have found it easier to send messages around. 

Pub landlord Chris Bateman called a meeting on Thursday evening where many turned up to voice their frustration with BT’s Openreach division, which owns and maintains the UK’s broadband cable network.

Monmouth MP David Davies was asked to attend to hear for himself what the problems are.

“Virtually everyone present was dissatisfied with both the connection speeds they are getting and the reliability of the line, both for broadband and telephone,” he said.

“The area is apparently served by an old fashioned copper cable which has had many faults, even though there have been numerous visits by Openreach engineers. 

“Unfortunately, local residents only ever experience a temporary fix or loss in another user’s broadband. 

“Earlier this month, Openreach engineers spent five days carrying out repair work.

“When they left at 4pm on Thursday, the pub was able to receive speeds of 1.6Mbps.

“By late evening, speeds had dropped to 1.2Mbps and connection was lost three times on Friday.

“On Saturday, the running speed was a mere 0.4Mbps.

 “I’m told there has been a continual decline in service throughout the year and it has now reached breaking point.”

 Mr Davies said there was an obvious ‘capability gap’ between broadband demand and supply, with an aged and decaying infrastructure simply unable to support the village. 

“There are schoolchildren who rely on internet access to do their homework, farmers who need it to fill in paperwork which is legally required, and others who run small businesses,” he said. 

“BT has been paid £425m by the Welsh Government to deliver superfast broadband across Wales but many areas of Monmouthshire are still waiting.” 

Mr Bateman, who recently moved back to the UK after working in Africa for several years, runs The Hunters Moon Inn alongside three generations of his family.

 He added: “As well as being a local pub, we offer meals and rooms for walkers on the Offa’s Dyke path, the Three Castles Walk and ramblers around the Skirrid Mountain. 

“However, people want to be able to make bookings over the internet and check their emails after a day’s walking. We simply can’t cater for this. 

“I can honestly say that internet access in the Kalahari Desert is better than here in Llangattock Lingoed.”