A pub landlord reckons a power cut on one of his busiest days of the year has cost him £4,000.
The blackout which hit shops, pubs and restaurants in Rochester on Friday afternoon, was caused by a fault in an underground electricity cable.
It happened after 1pm and knocked out traffic lights on Star Hill and along Corporation Street.
It also affected pubs which were serving up Christmas lunches at the time, but electricity was restored to most customers about an hour and a half later.
Traders in the high street yesterday reported that power was still being provided by a generator behind the Guildhall.
Steve Kray, landlord of The Crown, in Rochester High Street, did not get his power back until 2am on Saturday.
He said: “It is one of our biggest days of the year and it was a nightmare. The power went out at 12.30pm and didn’t come back on until 2am this morning.
“We had to close around 8pm when it got really dark and we couldn’t do anything.
“We had a full dining room at lunchtime and we had Christmas parties booked in for the eveing and we couldn’t cook or do anything.
“It cost us around £4,000 and I don’t know if we can get any compensation.”
Other restaurants, including the popular Simply Italian, were reported to have also been badly hit. A spokesman for UK Power Networks, said: “Engineers worked as quickly and as safely as possible to restore power to 187 customers in the High Street area of Rochester who experienced an interruption to their supplies following a fault on an underground electricity cable at 1.15pm on December 16.
“The fault originally affected 1,168 customers and the majority had power again within an hour. All bar the final 187 customers had power again by 2.45pm.”