UPDATE: Horsham power cut forces shops to close

Savers, Boots Opticians and Cancer Research charity shop all in West Street are not currently open.

The power cut affected a number of other stores which are running on less power than usual.

Clare Hartfield, manager at the charity shop, said she is losing money because of the cut and is worried she will not meet her weekly target.

“I could take the risk and open but it’s sod’s law someone will injure themselves and then I’ll be asked why we were operating in the dark.”

The 29-year-old opened her store at 8.30am and noticed her emergency lighting was on.

“It is a shame,” she continued, “but these things happen.

“Right now we’re frantically trying to get the shop looking as beautiful as possible.”

She apologised for the closure and said she will re-open the store as soon as possible.

Greggs bakery shop is currently not serving any hot food.

A spokesperson for UK Power Networks said: “UK Power Networks is sorry for any inconvenience caused by a power interruption in Horsham’s West Street and Worthing Road this morning.

“A fault on a piece of equipment at a local substation interrupted power supplies just before 10am, with supplies reconnected just before midday.

“We understand how difficult it is to be without power and our engineers worked to reconnect supplies as quickly as possible.”