Fourth digital street hub arrives on Tavern Street

Why it matters: The hub is the fourth to be installed in Ipswich town centre, extending a rollout of 75-inch digital advertising boards that has proved divisive in other parts of the UK and in Ipswich.

The big picture: BT and Global previously installed three of the hubs in Ipswich town centre, found at:

• Butter Market (outside Tooth Club)
• Westgate Street (at the end of the street)
• Tower Ramparts bus station (outside Sailmakers Shopping Centre)

The new hub is currently covered and is not yet operational.

What they offer: The hubs combine advertising with public services, including:

• Ultrafast Wi-Fi with speeds up to 1Gbps
• Free UK landline and mobile calls
• Two waterproof USB charging ports with Quick Charge 2.0
• A touch-screen tablet for accessing council services
• An emergency 999 button with location tracking
• 75-inch screens displaying advertisements

The other side: The hubs have faced opposition elsewhere in the country.

• Edinburgh council has rejected over 30 applications in the last six years, calling them an "unacceptable and unnecessary intrusion into the streetscape which would result in advertisement clutter."
• In 2022, Brighton and Hove Council rejected applications for six hubs, with planning officers citing concerns about street clutter and pedestrian congestion.
• Swindon Borough Council also rejected a proposal for two hubs, saying "the proposed LCD screen advertisement would be prejudicial to highway safety by virtue of their luminance levels, which would interfere with and/or dazzle drivers on the public highway," while also citing concerns about street clutter and pedestrian traffic.

The bottom line: With a fourth hub now installed on Ipswich's main high street, the rollout of the 75-inch advertising boards continues – and so does the debate over whether the public benefits outweigh the impact on the town's streetscape.

Don't forget: If you enjoy our content, please add Ipswich.co.uk as a "preferred source" on Google so you can easily find more of the content you value.

This article cost us ~£21 to produce

It's free for you to read thanks to the generous support of our partners. Please support us by supporting them.