PARTS of Wrexham’s shopping centre resembled a ghost town yesterday afternoon during a three-hour power cut.

Customers were turned away from businesses around the High Street area, with owners and managers having no choice but to close.

On what should have been a superb time for trading, with Wrexham basking in glorious autumn sunshine, there was an air of frustration for many business owners. Power was lost close to 2pm. A spokesman for ScottishPower said: “About 40 customers were affected in the High Street and Town Hill area of Wrexham.

“It was caused by a transformer fault at a sub-station and everyone was back on by 5pm. We apologise for any inconvenience.”

At The Bank wine bar proprietor Alex Jones, interim chairman of the Wrexham Chamber of Trade, said: “Luckily we were just about able to get through lunch, but after that we had to close. We have had to turn people away. There was nothing more we could do.”

With soaring temperatures yesterday, the High Street Newsagents was doing a roaring trade in sales of iced lollies, but due to the power cut owner Mike Jones had to take his stock home to prevent it melting when his shop freezer shut down.

Assistant Rosie Brennan said they were continuing to trade but could not use the tills so were writing down transactions. They were also unable to sell Lottery tickets on what was a Lotto draw night.

Kim Sheridan, of Just Tea and Coffee, said: “ Business is hard enough as it is without something extra like this happening. I need electricity for the till, the grinder – for coffee – and scales – for measuring tea. They are all off. I can’t trade.”

At the High Street Cafe Hakan Ucar said: “I can’t serve hot meals or drinks and have lost quite a lot of trade as a result. There has been no option but to turn people away.”

At Dusk For Hair in the Overton Arcade, Andrea Roberts had just started cutting customer Dave Parry’s hair when the power went off.

But she was determined to carry on and sat Dave down on a chair in the street to complete the job with scissors.

A highly impressed Dave, from Cross Lanes, Wrexham, said: “How about that for service? you just can’t beat this kind of dedication can you? They are absolutely marvellous here.”