Friday 13th became unlucky for part of Sheerness when business came to a standstill during a four hour blackout.

Nearly 700 homes and premises were affected by a power cut, including most of the businesses at the lower end of the high street.

Other affected areas included Bridge Road and King Street.

Power to some traffic lights in the area was also interrupted.

The power went off just after noon on Friday and was restored in stages between 1.40pm and about 4pm.

A number of shops in the high street closed for the afternoon, but some kept open accepting cash only payments.

Fitchs newsagent stayed open under torch-light, but was unable to process Lottery tickets.

Speaking during the blackout, Carol Horlor, shop assistant there, said: “We have still got one till going.

“All the Lottery and paypoints are down, but we are still doing sweets and newspapers.

“We can’t let customers go down to the back of the shop though as it’s a bit dangerous.”

Julie at the Tudor Inn pub said the power cut on a Friday lunch-time would affect their takings.

She said: “It’s affected us - Friday is normally a good day.”

Quality Seconds stayed open, but was only able to accept cash payments.

Customer advisor, Jackie Smith, said: “We have had to cordon off a bit at the back of the shop as it’s too dark.

“A few people are wondering in but because it’s cash only, it’s a bit quiet.”

NatWest, the Bakers Oven, William Hill, BonMarche and Boots were among the shops which closed during the powercut.

A spokesman for EDF Energy Networks said: “Power was interrupted to 690 customers in the High Street area of Sheerness just before 12.10pm today (13 March) after a fault on the electricity network.

"EDF Energy Networks engineers managed to restore supplies to all but 47 customers in stages between 1.38pm and 3.14pm.

"Supplies were restored to the final customers by 4.14pm.

"The interruption was caused by a fault on an underground cable. We can confirm it was not caused by damage to our electricity network.

"We do understand the inconvenience caused by any interruption to power and apologise to those who were affected."