diff --git a/node_modules/ipld-explorer-components/dist/lib/init-helia.js b/node_modules/ipld-explorer-components/dist/lib/init-helia.js
index e1204a1..53b6218 100644
--- a/node_modules/ipld-explorer-components/dist/lib/init-helia.js
+++ b/node_modules/ipld-explorer-components/dist/lib/init-helia.js
@@ -14,6 +14,17 @@ import { trustlessGateway } from 'helia/block-brokers';
 import { createLibp2p } from 'libp2p';
 import { getHashersForCodes } from './hash-importer.js';
 import { addDagNodeToHelia } from '../lib/helpers.js';
+
+function areRemoteGatewaysEnabled () {
+  const localStorageKey = 'explore.ipld.gatewayEnabled'
+  console.info(
+    `🎛️ Customise whether ipld-explorer-components fetches content from gateways by setting an '${localStorageKey}' value to true/false in localStorage. e.g. localStorage.setItem('explore.ipld.gatewayEnabled', false) -- NOTE: defaults to true`
+  )
+  const gatewayEnabledSetting = localStorage.getItem(localStorageKey)
+
+  return gatewayEnabledSetting != null ? JSON.parse(gatewayEnabledSetting) : true
+}
+
 export default async function initHelia(kuboGatewayOptions) {
   const blockstore = new MemoryBlockstore();
   const datastore = new MemoryDatastore();
@@ -38,12 +49,21 @@ export default async function initHelia(kuboGatewayOptions) {
       delegatedRouting: () => createDelegatedRoutingV1HttpApiClient('https://delegated-ipfs.dev')
     }
   });
+
+  // Always add the Kubo gatewawy
+  const trustlessGateways = [
+    trustlessGateway({ gateways: [`${kuboGatewayOptions.protocol ?? 'http'}://${kuboGatewayOptions.host}:${kuboGatewayOptions.port}`] })
+  ]
+
+  if (areRemoteGatewaysEnabled()) {
+    trustlessGateways.push(trustlessGateway())
+  }
+
   const helia = await createHelia({
     blockBrokers: [
-    // no bitswap
-    trustlessGateway(), trustlessGateway({
-      gateways: [`${kuboGatewayOptions.protocol ?? 'http'}://${kuboGatewayOptions.host}:${kuboGatewayOptions.port}`]
-    })],
+      // no bitswap
+      ...trustlessGateways
+    ],
     // #WhenAddingNewHasher
     hashers: await getHashersForCodes(17, 18, 19, 20, 27, 30),
     datastore,