Scores of guests at a four-star hotel went hungry on Christmas Day after a power cut took 15-and-a-half hours to fix.

The Clarendon Royal Hotel, in Royal Pier Road, Gravesend, was left without electricity from 1.30pm until just after 5am on Boxing Day due to a fault in a power line elsewhere in the town.

The kitchen and bar were left with no power at all, while two thirds of the rest of the hotel also suffered a blackout.

The situation meant diners who had paid £92 for a four-course dinner went hungry, with staff offering them refunds or telling them to wait and see if the power came back on.

One of those affected was Martin Jerom, who had booked a table for six adults and a child at a cost of £600.

He took to the venue’s Facebook page to complain, saying while he understood it was not the hotel’s fault he could not understand why a contingency plan wasn’t in place, especially as staff told him it had happened before.

He said: “There was no food whatsoever. We had no Christmas dinner and were left in the lurch like everyone else. We felt sorry for one of the tables who had absolutely no food at home. It was absolutely awful.

“Of course, it wasn’t their fault there was a power cut and they gave us the option of hanging around or getting a refund but they said when they had other situations like this it had been hours so we felt we had no choice but to get a refund.

“I can’t understand why some of the food had not already been prepped or how in this day and age there was no generator to avoid a disaster like this, especially on Christmas Day. There must have been at least 70 people whose Christmas Days were ruined. It doesn’t really cut the mustard. They offered to cook some of the children chicken nuggets.”

Replying to the one-star review the hotel said: “As you mention there was not a lot we could do other than offer a full refund and apologise for the inconvenience. Its a little unfair give us one star for something completely out of our control.”

The hotel added the situation was very frustrating especially given the amount of planning that went into the day “only for UK Power Networks to not be able to fix a fault and actually make the situation worse by blowing two of the three phases.”

The hotel has been approached for further comment.

A UK Power Networks spokesman said: "We sincerely apologise to seven customers in the area who were affected by a power cut on Christmas Day, including guests at a hotel. We understand how difficult this must have been at Christmas.

"A fault on an underground electricity cable interrupted power supplies at 1.38pm.

"Engineers worked through the night and restored all supplies by 5.40am, except one property where access was needed to reconnect their supply at 1.15pm.

"Our industry regulator Ofgem sets Guaranteed Standards and if we fail to meet these standards, customers are entitled to receive a payment.

"Such payments are not compensation and do not take into account individual inconvenience or losses.

"We will be proactively writing to the seven customers who were affected by this fault to explain this and apologise.

"We are sorry for any business losses incurred but, in common with all other UK electricity distribution companies, this is always a matter for the customer’s own business insurance.

"If they decide to make a claim our customer care team would be able to provide the customer with written confirmation of the power cut to give to their insurance company."