Businesses closed as power cut hits more than 11,000 homes

Power went off across the town and surrounding area at around 7pm on Tuesday.

More than 11,000 customers were affected by two issues linked to a faulty underground cable.

The outage caused huge disruption as venues were forced to close and traffic lights were reportedly not working in some areas.

It was reported that most affected properties had full power restored by 9pm.

Ross Diaper, manager of the Anchor Inn in Seatown said the power cut left his kitchen staff "plating in the dark".

He said: "There was a power cut at around 7pm. Luckily for us we are in a location in the middle of nowhere so we are used to this kind of thing.

"We put candles out for the customers and had a bit of fun with them dining in the dark.

"It was a bit like the 1950s and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

"It was particularly annoying because when the electricity goes off, the gas goes off too as a safety precaution.

"We fulfilled our orders and we were lucky that most of our bookings were earlier so we did about 30 plates in the dark."

Ian Winters, owner of takeaway/ restaurant Rafters and Mega Bites in Bridport, said he had to issue more than £100 of refunds, after orders put in by customers did not come through.

The restaurant closed early due to the power outage.

Ian Winters (right) at Rafters in Bridport with fellow owners Donna Winters and Sam Sach (Image: Ian Winters)

He said: "Our biggest problem was that our wi-fi went down, because we are a takeaway, there were a lot of orders coming through the system and we weren't getting them.

"We couldn't grill or fry anything because of the power so we had to shut.

"But we had to phone our provider because people were still placing orders.

"I have had to issue over £100 of refunds to customers because their tickets didn't come through to us but they still made payments.

"Power cuts do not do my business any good."

Bridport Wetherspoon pub The Greyhound was forced to move customers into the beer garden and then close.

A spokesperson for the pub said: "The power cut was around 7pm. Staff at the pub moved customers into the garden (for health and safety reasons) to finish food and drink. The power was switched back on again around 10.15pm and the pub reopened then.

Residents reported that traffic lights on Sea Road South in Bridport stopped working on Wednesday morning, following the power outage.

A National Grid spokesman said: "We apologise to customers in Bridport for the inconvenience caused by power outages.

"There were two faults on our high voltage network that together disrupted the power supplies of 11,500 customers.

"The first fault occurred at 7pm and lasted until 9.24pm affecting 4,500 customers, while the second issue, which began at 7.20pm lasting an hour, impacted 7,000 customers. Power was restored by moving customers to different circuits.

"A section of faulty underground cable has been isolated on the network and work will begin in the Sea Road North area to dig it out and replace it."