The owner of an Indian restaurant says he lost at least £800 in takings due to a power cut forcing him to close early.

Bengal Spice in Station Street, Sittingbourne, opened as usual at 5.30pm on New Year's Day.

There were two sit-in bookings made for opening hours, a group of six and a group of four, with a further 15 orders already placed for delivery.

Owner Koviruz Zaman was getting ready for what he described as a "usually busy day" but at 6.15pm his power went off.

He said: "They came round and told us they were turning off the power.

"The gas connection, telephone, order-receiving machine for deliveries and other equipment all stopped.

"I was nervous as we were having to turn customers away. The whole night I couldn't do anything.

"People would phone me and ask if we were open and I'd have to tell them what happened."

UK Power Networks had been aware of an electrical issue in the area since 11.28am that day which had affected five addresses.

The restaurant had been affected by the manual switch-off for two hours.

Power was restored to two addresses by 2.15pm with the others, including Bengal Spice, said to have regained power by 8.48pm, by which time Mr Zaman had already decided they would have to remain closed for the rest of the day.

He added: "We had lost at least £800-£900 due to the power cut.

"Some customers left their numbers with their bookings and orders so we could phone them but for the others that didn't we had to go to their doors to tell them we were unable to cook their food."

Customers were understanding of the situation and Bengal Spice issued refunds and offered a 50% discount to the groups who visited on the day for their next visit in way of an apology.

Mr Zaman said: "I was really sad having to close early losing business on a usually busy day. How will I get that money back?"

In a statement UK Power Networks said: "Following a power interruption at 11.28am, our team was quickly on site to investigate, excavate and repair an underground cable fault so all supplies could be restored as quickly as possible by 8.48pm.

"We apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused."

Bengal Spice was able open again the next day as usual.