‘Power cuts are forcing us to close’
‘CONTINUAL’ LOSS OF POWER
BUSINESSES in the Northern Quarter say they are being hit in the pocket by continual power cuts.
Restaurants, bars and pubs along one side of Oldham Street were plunged into darkness at lunchtime on Monday – with one frustrated manager saying it was the latest in a series of blackouts.
Staff were forced to put up ‘closed’ signs as a result and apologise to customers for the inconvenience, with some opting to shut for the day.
The outage came as diners were sitting down to lunch at tables and many bookings are thought to have been cancelled.
Black Milk cereal cafe, Turtle Bay restaurant and Fress cafe were among 30 premises to be hit.
Electricity North West blamed an underground cable fault. Engineers quickly attended and a spokesman said onsite generators would be made available.
Andy Young, one of the owners of cereal cafe Black Milk, said the problem was a regular occurrence and businesses have lodged complaints with Electricity North West.
He said he had to shut the cafe for the day at the start of the school summer holidays – traditionally a busy trading day.
Mr Young said food was being spoiled and vital revenue for small, independent businesses was being lost.
He said: “The power went off here at around 2.30pm on Monday – it must be the sixth time it’s happened in recent months. It has been happening on and off for the last six months or even longer. It is just one side of the street on Oldham Street that seems to be affected. It is so annoying.”
Mr Young said other businesses, including the Frog and Bucket comedy club, Koffee Pot, the Castle Hotel, Fress, Eat New York and Turtle Bay and The Patron, among others, were also being hit.
“We are mostly small independents and it is causing a big problem,” he added.
“Monday was the first day of the school summer holidays and it’s a busy day for us, but we had to shut.
“Everybody was forced to shut. It is so frustrating and we are all losing custom as a result.
“It needs to be sorted out. It normally happens at around 5pm on Saturdays – it is the worst time for a smaller business.”
The Patron restaurant and bar put up a sign apologising to customers and saying it would be shut for a few hours.
Turtle Bay directed diners to its Manchester restaurant on Oxford Street, saying that because of the power cut it couldn’t offer any service.
In a statement, Electricity North West said on Monday: “An underground cable fault has caused the loss of power to 30 customers on Oldham Street in Manchester this afternoon at 1.30pm.
“We understand that there have been intermittent power outages impacting Oldham Street recently and we are aware that this is the heart of the Northern Quarter, so we want to reassure residents and businesses that we are doing everything we can to repair the fault as soon as possible.
“Our engineers are still onsite and generators will be installed to restore power as quickly as possible this evening.”