The Community Grub Hub Aldershot: keeping communities connected with toob full-fibre broadband

At the Community Grub Hub in Aldershot, every Tuesday is dedicated to supporting the local community. What started as a food bank has grown into a community hub, welcoming around 250 visitors each week and providing everything from food parcels to employment support, health advice and access to essential services.

toob sat down with the Community Grub Hub’s Director, Steven Baxendale, to find out how its 900 Mbps full-fibre broadband has become an important part of the food bank’s day-to-day work.

“the main thing is, it’s just reliable”

Supporting hundreds of people each week means the Community Grub Hub relies on technology more than ever. Visitors use the hub’s internet cafe to search for jobs, write CVs and access online services, while volunteers and staff depend on a reliable connection to keep everything running smoothly.

However, before the site received toob’s broadband donation, that wasn’t always the case.

“We have an internet café, and it [the previous broadband connection] wasn’t a lot better than what some people had at home. What’s amazing now is it’s super fast. The main thing is, it’s just reliable.”

Since moving to toob, the hub has expanded its office capabilities, with multiple computers and laptops running throughout the day without any concerns about speed, reliability or performance. The hub is also benefiting from toob’s no data cap promise, which includes no broadband slowdown at peak times.

“We’ve now got three or four computers and laptops permanently logged in all day. We just don’t ever worry about the performance.”

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“that’s money we can spend helping people”

Like many local hubs, the Community Grub Hub carefully manages the financial support it receives through donations and fundraising. Keeping running costs down means more resources can go directly towards supporting local people.

Steven explained that having one less bill to think about has made a genuine difference at the centre.

“Our biggest overhead is running this two-storey building with around 50 volunteers. It’s actually a godsend to have another one of our utility services that we don’t have to pay for.

“We don’t want to spend money that’s been donated or raised on things which aren’t food related.”

Steven was equally impressed with toob’s smooth and hassle-free installation itself.

“It was very easy. The people that came were super friendly, super fun. We had a good time, then suddenly realised it was all installed. It’s just been working ever since.”

For the Community Grub Hub, having fast and reliable broadband means volunteers can focus on what matters most: supporting people across the Rushmoor community.

“It also highlights the fact that toob is one of a number of companies helping the local community. It gives a really good feel for the town. People are out there looking out for them.”

“Thank you toob. You don’t realise how useful it [the broadband donation] is.”

To find out more about how toob is keeping local communities connected, one story at a time, visit its community page.

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