Burst water main floods Islington streets

Torrents of water have flooded the streets of Islington.

Diners were trapped inside restaurants and bars, while shoppers were left stranded as thousands of gallons from a burst water main swamped areas in Islington and Angel.

The area's upmarket shops and businesses were forced to close as water from the main in Upper Street gushed under doorways and into homes.

The surrounding cobbled alleyways were turned into what resembled a mini-Venice. Emergency services battled for almost four hours to pump away the water yesterday afternoon. The manager of Frederick's restaurant in Camden Passage, a favourite haunt of stars from the TV and stage, including Kathy Burke and Patsy Kensit, described the chaos as water flooded in while people enjoyed their lunches.

"We had to close our doors. It was unbelievable," he said. "Customers were inside, literally trapped by the water. There was absolutely nothing we could do."

Upper Street was closed to traffic for four hours as water gushed from the cast-iron main while Thames Water engineers tried to shut down the supply.

A company spokesman said: "A team of engineers working nearby tried to shut the supply down. The cause of the burst pipe is not known and we are currently investigating why it ruptured."

Engineers worked through the night to repair the pipe.