Chichester bookshop left without Wi-Fi for almost 50 days

Alexis Collins, owner of The Sussex Bookshop, which opened on South Street just before Christmas, said providers have left her in the dark for 47 days straight, with no reliable source of regular broadband.

A spokesperson for providers Vodafone apologised for the inconvenience, adding that they and their partners Openreach – who develop and install broadband infrastructure – are aware of the problem: “We’re working hard with them to get services up and running as soon as possible,” they said. “We have provided the customer with a MiFi device to support them with free 4G mobile data in the meantime."

But Alexis said 4G is no replacement for real Wi-Fi, and the disruption has made it hard for her still-new business to find its stride.

"It’s been really difficult,” she told Sussex World. “We cannot accept card payments or book tokens, or anything from the Chichester BID gift card because the 4G they’ve given us isn’t reliable enough.”

It’s a hugely frustrating outcome for the new business, not least because, as Alexis made clear, it was properly fitted for Wi-Fi under the site’s previous owners, who only left the premises last summer.

"It’s not just me, it’s bad for the local economy, because we can’t grow. I can’t employ the staff I want to employ, I can’t open up all of the shop, and that slows things down.”

Chichester MP Jessica Brown Fuller has also expressed her support for the business, promising to visit in the very near future, with staff telling Alexis that “Jess was shocked to hear of the challenges (she) is facing.”

It all comes at a critical time for The Sussex Bookshop, which opens in the same site as secondhand sellers Kim’s Bookshop, following the latter’s closure in the summer. With three floors and plenty of shelf-space to make use of, Alexis said she wants to make it the shop of choice for booklovers eager to buy the most beautiful editions on the market, offering a carefully curated selection of paperbacks, hardbacks and literary gifts.