Power cut hits town centre
Business grinds to a halt as power goes down, lights are off and computers crash
A POWER cut disrupted business in Newbury town centre this morning.
It began at 9.30am and affected swathes of Bartholomew Street and Cheap Street.
Earlier, 500 properties were without power but by 10.15am the number was around 50.
Power was eventually fully restored by 11am.
A spokeswoman at Bartholomew Street estate agents Jones Robinson, Sara Robinson, said earlier: "Everything is down and it's the same all round here, affecting Cheap Street, too."
The Empire Cafe and Cafe Nero were among those affected.
Initially, Southern Electric spokeswoman Sam O'Connor said: "Supplies to more than 500 properties went off at 9.24am.
"Our engineers were able to restore supplies to the majority by 10.15am."
She added: "Up to 50 properties are still affected and we are still trying to locate the cause of the fault."
However, at 11.50am she said: "The power was restored at 11am. There was a fault with an underground cable.
"Our engineers rerouted supplies from a different section of the network to restore power while repairs are made."