According to new data released by the price comparison website USwitch. com, Leamington Spa, in Warwickshire is the town with the fastest broadband in the UK.

Leamington, with download speeds of 18.87Mb, is 14 times faster than Cranbrook in Kent, which came in the last position. Tregaron in Wales, Lavant in Sussex and Charlton Down in Dorset with an average of less than 2Mb of speeds are at the bottom of uSwitch. com's Broadband Speed Tracker list.

Duncan Taylor, who is leading an initiative to improve broadband speeds in the UK, said"The problem is that it holds back businesses in the area. It's very damaging to business."

The company based on 400,000 speed tests conducted through its website between May and July this year.