Engineers are investigating the cause of a major power cut that shut down electricity to thousands of customers in Great Yarmouth yesterday afternoon.The power cut happened just after noon and affected several thousand homes and businesses in the town and in Gorleston and surrounding villages, including Acle, Martham and Caister.

Engineers are investigating the cause of a major power cut that shut down electricity to thousands of customers in Great Yarmouth yesterday afternoon.

The power cut happened just after noon and affected several thousand homes and businesses in the town and in Gorleston and surrounding villages, including Acle, Martham and Caister.

Yesterday's power cut led to disruption for shoppers and trippers as Yarmouth's Market Gates Shopping Centre and some banks and shops were forced to close their doors.

It also led to Yarmouth's famous chip stalls in the Market Place pulling down their covers as they had no power for their fryers.

EDF engineers restored power to all customers affected by 2.20pm and last night were trying to find out what caused the shortage which affected main high voltage lines.

Jonathan Newman, town centre partnership manager, said a long power failure was bad news for traders.

He said “It is a busy Monday and a lot of shoppers will be disappointed.”

Jimmy Durrant, who runs Jimmy's chip stall, summed up how the power cut affected his business by saying: “No power, no wages.”

In Peggotty's pub on King Street, drinkers had to sip their drinks in the dark and had to settle for warm cold drinks.

Its manager, Mike Mitchell, said the power cut had been a nuisance but he had not lost any business.

Yarmouth's Sealife Centre had to close its aquariums and tanks to the public while an emergency power system kicked in.

However, the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston and Yarmouth's Coastguard rescue co-ordination centre at Havenbridge House were not affected because of their emergency power systems.

A spokesman for JPH said: “We have our own emergency power supply to sustain all essential services and functions in the trust if a power cut occurs.

“Our normal power supply was inactive for just a few seconds - it is business as usual.

“We have not received any initial reports of cancelled patient appointments or procedures.”

EDF spokeswoman Tracey Sparling said “We are currently investigating the cause of the incident and we would like to apologise to our customers.

“We know it is a problem with our high voltage network which has affected a sub-station and other equipment and it is going to take some time to investigate.”