Whitefriars shopping centre in the heart of Canterbury was plunged into darkness following problems with the electricity supply on Friday afternoon.

Dozens of shops were forced to turn customers away and signs were put up by town centre management warning people not to use lifts.

The power was going on and off, creating suspicion that it was a power surge rather than a power cut.

EDF energy spokesman Andrew Drinkwater said: “At 12.15pm on Friday power was interrupted to 45 customers in Canterbury High Street due to a fault on an underground cable.

“Our engineers attended the scene and power was restored at 1.15pm.

“We would like to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused.”