Shoppers were left shut out of The Galleries shopping centre in the middle of Bristol this morning after a power cut kept gates and doors closed.
The city centre and the BS3 area of Southville and Bedminster experienced a series of power outages from around midnight into the early hours of this morning (Sunday, January 29) and the final one knocked out power to half of The Galleries shopping centre next to Castle Park.
The centre's car park remained closed with the shutters unable to open, leaving some drivers who had stayed overnight in nearby hotels and parked in the car park overnight unable to retrieve their vehicles.
Read next: The Galleries to be demolished and replaced in huge new city centre for Bristol project
One parent, attempting to visit the Jungle Mania soft play area at The Galleries, said the whole centre was shut down first thing this morning. "We were heading straight there to park up but found the shutters down. We managed to find somewhere else to park, walked back past there to the get to the soft play place, but that was shut too because of the power cut.
"People had left their cars in there overnight and were told it wouldn't open for another hour. I saw some people with luggage and they'd clearly been staying at a hotel nearby and had left their car in the car park," he added.
National Grid UK tweeted at 4.30am: "We are aware that properties are without power in #Bristol #BS3 & surrounding area. We aim to restore all supplies by 06:00. Apologies to all affected." Someone who responded said they had also lost power in BS1.
A spokesperson for The Galleries declined to comment on the power outage, and said no one would be available to respond until Monday morning. Bristol Live understands that half the shopping centre experienced the power cut, but the decision was taken to keep the whole shopping centre closed for health and safety reasons.
Power was restored at around 10.30am and the shopping centre was able to open as normal. The shopping centre is set to close towards the end of 2024 and be demolished to make way for a massive residential, shopping and office regeneration scheme.
Read more:
- Broadmead's empty Marks & Spencer to be transformed
- Former Bristol Debenhams will form part of city centre regeneration
- How Ashton Gate Sporting Quarter will change South Bristol in years to come
- Avon and Somerset police list Saturday night chaos from pub fight to stuck passenger
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