Britain’s first jet flew from a Gloucester company with spare capacity
- Gloster E.28/39 — first British jet flight, May 1941
- Gloster Meteor: the only Allied jet in the war
- Britain’s most inland port
- A £1bn cyber campus up the road at Cheltenham
How Gloucester grew
An inland port, the first British jet, and a cyber campus up the road.
Britain’s first jet flight
The Gloster E.28/39, built at Brockworth on the edge of Gloucester and powered by Frank Whittle’s engine, flew in May. Gloster had been chosen partly because it had spare capacity, which is a very British reason to hand somebody the future.
The Gloster company and the first British jet
The Gloster Aircraft Company, based at Brockworth on the edge of Gloucester, built the E.28/39 — the aircraft that made Britain’s first jet flight in May 1941, powered by Frank Whittle’s engine. Gloster went on to build the Meteor, the only Allied jet fighter to see service in the war.
The company was chosen partly because it had spare capacity, which is a very British reason to hand somebody the future.
Gloucester’s other great asset is its docks: Britain’s most inland port, built so that ocean-going ships could reach the Midlands. The city has a long habit of being the place where things are moved between one system and another.
What that means if you trade in Gloucester
Gloucester sits close enough to Cheltenham to be constantly compared with it and is a rather different city: more industrial, less genteel, and quietly resentful of the comparison.
Local businesses do well by being plainly and specifically Gloucester, and by covering the Forest and the Severn Vale properly rather than gesturing at Gloucestershire.
What Gloucester businesses ask us for
Not Cheltenham
Two different markets six miles apart. Be clear which you serve.
Name the vale and the forest
Quedgeley, Hucclecote, Coleford, Newent. Rural coverage is a real question.
Practical language
A working city. Prices and timescales beat adjectives.
A jet town next door to a cyber cluster
Gloucester’s engineering history is real and specific: the Gloster Aircraft Company at Brockworth built the E.28/39 that made Britain’s first jet flight in May 1941, and went on to build the Meteor, the only Allied jet fighter to see service in the war. The company got the job partly because it had spare capacity.
The modern equivalent sits ten miles up the road rather than in the city itself, and it is worth being precise about that. Golden Valley is a £1 billion cyber and technology campus being built beside GCHQ at Cheltenham — around 200 hectares, over a million square feet of commercial space, and projected to support close to twelve thousand jobs. It is a Cheltenham development, not a Gloucester one, but it reshapes the labour market, the commute and the supply chain across the whole county.
Gloucester’s own economy is more grounded: the docks — Britain’s most inland port, built so ocean-going ships could reach the Midlands — plus distribution, manufacturing, public services and the University of Gloucestershire. It is a working city sitting next to an unusually specialised one, and the two are not the same market.
Where people work
A historic port, a county-wide business network, and a cyber cluster on the doorstep that most Gloucester businesses touch indirectly rather than directly.
Gloucester Docks
Britain’s most inland port, built so ocean-going ships could reach the Midlands. Now a regenerated waterfront of offices, retail and hospitality rather than working quays.
University of Gloucestershire
Campuses across Gloucester and Cheltenham, supplying graduates into a county labour market being pulled hard by the cyber and defence sector.
Golden Valley, Cheltenham
A £1 billion campus beside GCHQ — around 200 hectares and over a million square feet of commercial space, projected to support close to 12,000 jobs. Ten miles from Gloucester, and reshaping the county’s wage expectations with it.
GFirst LEP
Gloucestershire’s business support and skills body — the practical route into county funding and programmes.
How Gloucester businesses use their sites
Gloucester is a working city with a wealthy, highly specialised neighbour, and the gap shows up in what customers expect to pay. Being clear about your price is more useful here than in most places, because the alternative is being compared to Cheltenham rates without the context.
Say where you cover. Gloucester, Cheltenham, the Forest of Dean and the Stroud valleys are distinct markets within half an hour of each other, and customers absolutely check which ones you serve.
Trades and home services
Name the areas — Quedgeley, Hucclecote, Longlevens and out toward the Forest are different journeys and customers know it.
Clinics, salons and studios
Online booking and published prices. Cheltenham comparison is real, so state what you charge rather than inviting the question.
Shops, cafés and hospitality
The docks and the cathedral quarter trade on visitors; the rest of the city trades on residents. Hours and parking on the page.
Engineering and technical services
Aerospace and defence supply chains run through the county. If you serve them, lead with accreditations and clearances rather than with design.
Why FastSites works here
A city that got handed the jet age because it had spare capacity understands that the right supplier is often the available one who can actually do it. A page live in days, at a published price, is the same proposition.
Built mobile-first and light. Tell us which parts of Gloucestershire you actually cover — in this county that is the difference between a local supplier and a distant one, and it is only half an hour either way.
How well do you know Gloucester?
Five quick questions. Get all five right and you win a 10% off discount code for your website. Every answer is somewhere on this page, so have a read if you get stuck.
Gloucester quiz · 1 of 5
Which aircraft made Britain’s first jet flight in May 1941?
Common questions
The simplest one-page site starts at £15 a month, with the website build included and nothing to pay up front. Every plan and its price is published on the pricing page before you speak to anyone.
Sign-up takes about 3 minutes and the build questionnaire about 5. Most sites are then designed and built within 21 hours, and live within days of the brief being answered.
No setup fee and no hidden extras. Your monthly plan covers the website build and hosting. Done-for-you plans have a 12-month minimum term, then you can cancel any time from your dashboard.
Yes — you can upgrade at any time as your business grows, with no need to start over.