SEVERAL shops in Kendal town centre were left without power as the cold weather caused electricity customers to overload the network.

Several shops on Finkle Street had to close their doors due to the power cut which hit the busy shopping street at around 9.40 this morning (Friday) with power eventually being restored at around 11am.

A spokesman for United Utilities said: "This was no ordinary power cut and we it is highly likely that it is related to the current spate of cold weather with people switching on extra appliances which has overloaded the network in that area."

Shops which were affected included JJB Sports, The Works and Dorothy Perkins.

A spokesman for Dorothy Perkins said that one half of the store had to be closed due to the power cut while the other half remained open but had no heating.

United Utilities also said they were arranging for some of the customers in the area to be switched to a different network circuit to avoid similar problems during the cold weather. She also said an engineer would be visiting the area to offer advice to shopkeepers on how to avoid similar problems in the future.