Winchester power cuts hit shops and businesses

Recently, businesses in Southgate Street and Jewry Street have been affected by the problems, with one losing a whole day of trading.

Business owners have spoken out about how this is a regular occurrence at this time of year, with one saying they will stop paying rates if it isn't rectified.

Peter Neave, from Greens Bar & Kitchen in Jewry Street, said: “We lost all the power on December 14, so we couldn't trade until 12pm. We were considering having to cancel bookings after being told by SSEN we wouldn't have power until 3.30pm. 

“There's nobody at SSEN to give any reassurance that it will be fixed. I've had Greens for 35 years now. They tried to blame it on the Christmas lights, but that has its own generators. I got so cross with it, so when it happened again on December 15, I actually put candles in my kitchen so my chefs could work. We needed to keep the doors open because of the last three years. 

“The BID have been absolutely outstanding, they gave me the reassurance that they are on the case. We've managed to survive with everything that has been thrown at us over the last few years, but this one just about broke me.”

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Rebecca Foley, manager of Toni & Guy, said: “Luckily we haven't had to close as we run from two circuits in the salon, so one side would work and we would have about three or four plug sockets. We had no lights through most of the salon, the emergency lights did come on.

“It has become quite tough and upsetting for the clients who have their appointments booked months in advance for Christmas. We suffer with this every year. This has been going on for at least 10 years and every December, without fail, we have power shortages. We can't help but think there is a link between this and the Christmas lights and the Christmas Market. 

“We have said that we won't be paying our rates, going forward, if this isn't rectified.”

Tom Ferry, owner of Lord Hair Salon in Southgate Street, said: “We were off from around 9am-2pm on December 12 and 13, so we've technically lost a whole day of trading. Obviously everyone wants their hair done for Christmas, so we have had to open longer hours to try and fit people in. We have taken definitely taken a hit financially. I am frustrated with the whole situation.”

Steve Brine MP and Paul Spencer, executive director of Winchester BID, have been visiting affected businesses.

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Mr Brine said: “Businesses impacted by these new power outages are fuming and so am I. We worked hard to get a major upgrade, with all the disruption that caused, to avoid this happening.

“SSEN need to move very fast to restore confidence as well as keeping the power on because, on top of these indulgent rail strikes, they can ill afford to lose business at this crucial time of year after the last two Covid affected Christmases.”

Mr Spencer said: “The electricity network upgrade in this part of the city centre, the final phase of which was completed last year, caused a lot of disruption but the investment was welcomed because it was intended to improve the resilience and longevity of the network. Therefore we are extremely disappointed that businesses in these particular streets are being affected by outages again and during such an important time of the year for trade. 

“We have been in contact with many of the affected businesses and are liaising with SSEN to ensure these recent faults are resolved quickly.”

An SSEN spokesman said they were looking into the problems.