Blu Hardy, Stuart Lilley and Patrick Clark met up with Burton Echo to discuss their recent fiber project.
I’ve visited a lot of businesses over the years, but there’s something different when you walk into a place that’s genuinely evolving. Hardy Signs isn’t just ticking over. It’s transforming. And sitting in their meeting room with Blu Hardy, Patrick Clark, and Stuart Lilley from Mint Technology, I could see exactly why.
Patrick Clark is Head of IT and Digital Signage at Hardy Signs, and when I asked him what the installation experience was like with Mint Technology, he didn’t hold back. “The installation experience was excellent,” he told me. “Both from Stuart and the installation of the router, through to the installation of the fiber from the cabinet. The guys came in, the fiber was absolutely spot on.”
But here’s the thing. Patrick wasn’t convinced it would work at first. “To be honest, no,” he admitted when I asked if he believed it would deliver. “My doubts were that there was a third party, not Openreach, installing the cable. That was my concern. But I’ve got to say it went smoothly and it’s been true.”
Stuart Lilley has been working with businesses across Burton to deliver fiber connectivity that actually performs. And for Hardy Signs, performance was critical. Patrick explained that while they knew they were getting a 100 Meg circuit, what surprised him was that it was synchronous. That means the upload speed matches the download speed, which is rare. Most FTTP products in Burton give you about 20% upload compared to download. With Mint’s solution, it’s the same both ways. 100 up, 100 down.
“That was a very, very pleasant surprise,” Patrick said. And it’s not just a nice-to-have. Hardy Signs backs up to Swindon three times a day. That upload speed is significant. Before the upgrade, they were consistently getting low transfer speeds. Since Mint Technology installed the new system, it’s been solid.
Blu Hardy, who handles marketing at Hardy Signs and is second generation in the family business, told me how the upgrade has changed day-to-day operations. “It’s not so much transferring files around internally,” she explained, “but getting files from customers, getting files from Adobe, that sort of work is a lot faster and more reliable.”
And then there’s the digital signage side of the business, which is growing fast. Hardy Signs has evolved from traditional signage into photographic work and now video content for digital displays. Patrick frequently supports clients by uploading test videos remotely.
Stuart pointed out something that I think a lot of businesses miss. “If Hardy Signs want more speed as the digital business evolves, they can just upgrade. At the minute, they’re on 100 Meg. The next step is 500 Meg, then full gig. And during that process, you won’t have another installation. We’ll just give you the bandwidth on the current line you’ve got now.”
Patrick nodded. “Pay for it as you use it. Sustainable.”
What struck me most was Patrick’s honesty about why they did this. Yes, the old system was slow. But they also knew demand was going to increase. And they wanted resilience. “Performance, resilience, and growth,” Patrick said. “Those are the three main areas.”
Stuart’s team at Mint Technology didn’t just install a faster internet connection. They installed infrastructure that scales with ambition. And for a business like Hardy Signs, which has been running since 1993 and is now being shaped by the next generation, that matters.
When I asked Patrick about customer service, he didn’t hesitate.
MInt Technology have been second to none. Absolutely super. Both Stuart and Ash were excellent. When we had a couple of initial teething problems, things we needed to resolve, they were on it. Even the contractors who came to do the survey and installation were spot on. And that’s the thing about working with local businesses. There’s accountability. There’s a relationship. When something needs sorting, you’re not calling a faceless call center. You’re calling Stuart.
Blu talked about how the business is evolving. Her dad, Nik Hardy, started the company in 1993, working from his garage. Now it employs 32 people, four of whom are family members. Blu has a degree in film production, and she’s applying that creativity to the marketing and digital side of the business. “We’ve just launched the new website,” she told me. “It’s looking good. It’s performing well. There’s a real big push on digital.”
And that digital push needs infrastructure. It needs upload speeds that don’t bottleneck. It needs reliability. It needs a partner who understands that when you’re backing up three times a day, or uploading video content for a client’s digital display, every second counts.
Stuart Lilley and Mint Technology are proving that local tech firms can deliver enterprise-level solutions without the enterprise-level headaches. And Hardy Signs is proving that investing in infrastructure isn’t just about solving today’s problems. It’s about building capacity for tomorrow’s opportunities.
Patrick summed it up perfectly. “We wanted performance, resilience, and growth. And that’s exactly what we got.”
I left Hardy Signs thinking about how many businesses in Burton are still limping along with internet connections that were fine five years ago but are now holding them back. If you’re backing up to the cloud, if you’re sending large files, if you’re doing anything that involves video or high-resolution imagery, you need to be asking the same questions Patrick asked. Is my infrastructure ready for where I’m going, not just where I am?
Because the businesses that are asking that question now are the ones that will still be here, still growing, still employing people in Burton, in ten years’ time. Hardy Signs and Mint Technology are proof of that.
Find out more about Hardy Signs and Mint Technology