A MAJOR power cut left more than 200 businesses without electricity in Bolton — and cost the town centre economy thousands of pounds.

A fault in an underground cable caused the power cut at 9.30am yesterday.

Traffic lights went off and more than 200 businesses powered by United Utilities were left without power.

A United Utilities spokesman said last night: “Supply has been fully restored and our customers are back on the main grid.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Our engineers have been working as fast as they could to restore the electricity supply.”

The blackout was caused by a fault with a piece of electrical equipment.

Power was lost in the Newport Street, Coronation Street and Great Moor Street area at 9.40am due to a fault in an underground cable. Almost 40 customers had their power restored by 10.45am.

A further 82 businesses were back on in the early afternoon, leaving 98 customers without power until the end of the day.

Companies were badly hit by the incident.

Among the biggest casualties of the day was the Morrisons supermarket in Blackhorse Street. It closed at 9.30am, but was expecting to reopen today.

Olympus Fish and Chip Shop in Great Moor Street lost thousands of pounds, on one of its busiest days, as people went elsewhere.