SEVERAL Moses Gate businesses lost hundreds of pounds because of the burst pipe.

The main businesses to lose out were takeaways and restaurants, which do most of their business during the hours when the water supply was cut.

Properties in the BL3 and BL4 postcode areas of Bolton were without running water from approximately 5.30pm until 2am on Friday.

Burst water main could cause WEEKS of chaos

Curry Centre, a takeaway in Egerton Street, reopened on Thursday evening after three weeks of refurbishment.

But owner Mohammad Abdullah was forced to close within an hour because of the water shortage.

Mr Abdullah, whose family has run food outlets in Bolton for more than 50 years, said: “I needed water for the kitchen and the food and I couldn’t leave the shop to go and get it from anywhere.

“Without running water you cannot serve food or clean, so I had no choice.

“It is very sad that it happened on the night of reopening.There were a lot of cancelled orders and nobody came in off the street.”

Friend and fellow Egerton Road businessman Mr Vara said he was “very disappointed” by what had happened to Mr Abdullah.

Mr Vara said: “He has worked really hard and he was all ready for the reopening, so for it to happen now was a real blow.

“This whole thing has caused a lot of stress for people, but especially for people who trade in the evening time.”

As well as takeaway, restaurants which rely on advanced bookings also took a financial blow on Thursday. Sai Spice, in Bolton Road very close to where works are taking place, was forced to close early on Thursday evening.

Manager Atmaram Sahu said most of the people who had booked tables had cancelled because they lived on the other side of the railway bridge and would have had to walk about 45 minutes to get to the restaurant. Mr Sahu estimates he lost between £700 and £800 of business because of the cancellations. He said: “It is very frustrating as a business owner at this time, we can’t afford to lose that type of money.

“I have been here for eight years and I have never seen anything like this. But it can happen any time, anywhere to any property.

“The authorities are doing their best and they worked hard to rectify things last night, so I don’t want to criticise them, these things happen.