Three Residents' Associations in Hampstead have banded together to complain about what they called "appalling" internet service in NW3.

The Gayton Road, Rudall Crescent and Pilgrims to Willoughby RAs have written a collective letter drawing attention to problems with Virgin Media connections in the area - which locals said had only been exacerbated during the pandemic.

Virgin Media described the problem as "a small number of customers in the Hampstead area are experiencing intermittent issues".

Jenny Stevens, of the Rudall Crescent RA, told the Ham&High: "This is a problem that's been going on for ages and really affects the whole of NW3.

"It's been an absolute disaster in the last month or two, and we've found it an impossible to get any answers from Virgin."

She added: "If you're off for any length of time they seem to get it working for an hour or so, but it doesn't last."

She said it seemed there were fundamental issues with the broadband infrastructure around Hampstead.

Janine Griffis, her counterpart at the Pilgrims to Willoughby RA, said it had been hugely frustrating, particularly at a time when people were more reliant on robust internet connection than ever before.

Janine told this newspaper: "It's very hard to get through to anyone or to be heard by these people (Virgin). Personally I've found it incredibly frustrating and so difficult to find out what is being done about a problem or when it might be fixed."

She said issues have been discussed by members of the various associations for a number of years, but that things worsened during the pandemic.

"Internet has to be seen as an essential service now. We are all locked down at home," Janine said. "We are in situation where we're so reliant on a good connection to work.

"Jenny had the idea that if we joined forces, perhaps now we might be heard."

A Virgin Media spokesperson said “A small number of customers in the Hampstead area are experiencing intermittent issues with their broadband and TV services.

"We have engineers working to resolve the issue as soon as possible and apologise for the inconvenience caused.”

Virgin said it had engineers working on the situation, and that anyone experiencing difficulties should not be seeing a complete loss of connection.