We have the power!
HUGE GENERATOR INSTALLED TO STOP NORTHERN QUARTER BLACK OUTS
A HUGE generator has been put up in the Northern Quarter after more than 30 businesses were hit by a power cut.
Electricity North West engineers worked through the night to fix a fault with an underground cable.
Power was restored thanks to the generator yesterday, with a spokesman saying engineers would continue working to locate the fault on Oldham Street and carry out repairs.
Businesses on Oldham Street said they were being hit in the pocket by continual power cuts.
Restaurants, bars and pubs along just one side were plunged into darkness at lunchtime on Monday – with one frustrated manager reporting it was the sixth power outage in as many months.
Black Milk cereal cafe, Turtle Bay restaurant, The Patron restaurant and Fress cafe were among 30 premises to be hit, putting up signs on their doors and apologising to customers. Some reported spoiled frozen food. The Frog and Bucket comedy club meanwhile said it was forced to cancel a show on Monday night as a result of the power cut.
The temporary generator to supply power to all those affected was put in place at the junction of Houldsworth Street, near Black Milk, in the early hours.
Andy Young, one of the owners of the cereal cafe, said he would be opening as usual today and said he believed others would be able to open again too. He said: “They guys on the ground were great. We’ve offered them all a milkshake for working overnight on the problem.”
A spokesman for Electricity North West said an underground cable fault led to intermittent power outages.
She said: “Our engineers have worked through the night to restore power to 30 customers on Oldham Street in Manchester. We installed a generator and restored power to all customers at 3am and engineers were back on site at 8am working to locate the fault.
“Our priority was to get everyone back on supply and today we will be focusing on locating the fault, investigating the cause and carrying out a full repair. We’ll also be keeping customers updated throughout the day by visiting businesses door-to-door to give them the latest information.
“We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused and if any customers would like any further information they can contact us online, on social media and by calling the free three digit 105 number.”