A café owner is concerned for the future of his business after power cuts forced his shop to close.

Boulangerie Joie De Vie café, in Ballards Lane, North Finchley, was forced to close when it was hit by a power cut for two hours this morning, and three hours yesterday.

The latest loss of electricity follows a spate of power cuts during the past 18 months, in which shops in the area were affected 15 times.

Mourad Reghis, 41, who owns the cafe, said: “It happens a lot. I am worried it will happen on the weekend, when we’re at our busiest. It’s a big problem. When there’s no power, we can’t make coffee, which means we don’t make any money. The fridges don't work. We almost closed down last year.

“We had to shut today and the customers left. It needs to be fixed permanently. They said they would fix it last year. They say we do our best, but it's not enough.

"The customers feel sorry for us, they were very frustrated because it's the same problem again. It affects us big time. The power cuts can damage our business. I am scared it's going to happen tomorrow. I am really concerned, it's stressing me out. It reminds me of what happened last year."

The power cuts also affected other shops in the area, including the Natural Health shop.

Dinesh Thankey, who owns the shop, said: "It affects our trade quite a lot. We can't keep the shop open. We had to shut it many times last year. We were promised the problem would be resolved.

"Most customers thought we were closed, because it was all dark. A couple came in, but the till wouldn't work, so they couldn't buy anything. We lost a couple of hundred pounds. 

"I feel very annoyed. My fear is this will keep happening. Eventually, if it does keep happening, we would struggle to survive. It could have a huge impact."

A spokesman for UK Power Networks said: “Due to an underground cable fault in the Ballards Lane area 36 customers had an interruption to their power supplies at 10.02am yesterday and all were restored by 11.54am.

"Unfortunately a further fault occurred at 5.47am this morning affecting 24 customers, all of whom had their power restored by 11.50am this morning.

"Our engineers responded quickly to both events to ensure that customers’ power supplies were restored as quickly as possible and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”