A restaurant claims to have lost £10,000 in business and that it had to throw out thousands of pounds of food after it lost power for days following last Thursday's storm.

Gary Cornwell, the operations director of the Ivory Rooms, Laindon Road, Billericay, said it was heartbreaking to turn away so many customers who had booked for the weekend, including a surprise birthday party.

He said: "We've lost thousands of pounds of food and had lots of disappointed customers.

"All our fridges had to be cleaned out because everything we do is fresh.

"We're talking fresh meat, fish and sauces."

Mr Cornwell said the restaurant lost power at 11.30am on Thursday and it wasn't restored until 6pm on Saturday. It was one of just a few businesses on Laindon Road to lose power.

EDF Energy did not attend until Saturday when engineers quickly discovered the problem was a blown fuse.

Mr Cornwell apologised to customers for any inconvenience.

An EDF Energy spokesman told how power had been restored to 99 per cent of the 450,000 households affected by the storm and said businesses, such as the Ivory Rooms, who were without power for 48 hours would be entitled to compensation.

Residential customers left without power for more than 48 hours are entitled to £25 and a further £25 for each subsequent 12-hour period they were without power.

EDF Energy will write to customers who were affected.