A major update has been given by the electricity company
18:08, 17 Nov 2025Updated 20:12, 17 Nov 2025
Properties on Cooper Street, Booth Street and the nearby areas in the city centre were set to be affected by a power cut next month(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Plans for a ‘very poorly timed’ city centre power cut have been changed after businesses hit back in the build up to Christmas.
Last week, around 41 properties near to Princess Street were notified that an outage would take place from 8pm on December 11.
SP Electricity North West described the work as essential, adding that power would be cut for around seven hours – resuming again at 3am the next morning.
Couple Jon and Sara Saunby, who have run the Salut Wine Shop on Cooper Street since 2014, said that the cut was due to take place at the ‘worst possible time’ for them as it would fall during the major run-up to Christmas.
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SP Electricity North West has since cancelled the planned power cut and will reschedule it for the new year(Image: Manchester Evening News)
“Like many establishments in the area, we’re usually open throughout the week until late – so the works would take out the last three trading hours during the busiest period of the year for us,” Sara told the Manchester Evening News.
“There’s no generators provided, and, realistically, it’s going to affect us more than just three hours too. We will have to close up before then, prepare the stock, and then you don’t know what you’re coming back to in the morning because our cold store won’t have been working.”
After the owners of Salut reached out to Sacha Lord and local MP Lucy Powell, SP Electricity North West has now rearranged the scheduled power cut.
But prior to this decision, Sara said she had had contacted the energy firm to explain the situation for herself and other businesses in the area, and to ask if there was any possibility to move the date.
The provider has since told the M.E.N it has taken the ‘time to take individual businesses’ views into account’.
The owners of the Salut Wine Shop said the planned power cut was scheduled for the ‘worst possible time'(Image: Salut/Instagram: @salutwines)
“I asked if they could push it back a few hours, as they would be working overnight anyway,” she explained. “That would have made all the difference to us because we’re going to lose a lot of money if we have to close.”
Sara said that she believed the power cut alone was likely to lose the business around £6,000.
“I just don’t understand the logic of having to do it on a December evening in the middle of week,” Sara added. “We are banking on December to see us through the leaner part of January.
Notification was sent to over 40 properties in the city centre
“It just feels like very poor timing for the businesses that don’t fit into the usual 9 to 5 routine. If they said they wanted to move it to a Monday in January, it still wouldn’t be great but we understand these things need to happen and we could suck it up then.”
Following calls with the utility provider, Sara said she reached out to Manchester MP Lucy Powell and Sacha Lord, who is the Chair for the Night Time Industries Association, to ask them to step in and support.
On Friday (November 14), Sacha posted on X about the situation. He wrote: “This is appalling…Electricity North West have decided to cut off power to some venues/bars in Manchester on Thursday 11th Dec…one of the busiest days in the run up to Xmas. No compensation. No help with generators. Why not do it in January when it’s quiet?”
SP Electricity North West has since cancelled the planned power cut and will reschedule it for the new year(Image: Manchester Evening News)
On Monday (November 17), Electricity North West confirmed that the scheduled works for December 11 have now been cancelled and will be rescheduled. It said the owner for the intended site had originally agreed on the timeslot, but said it had since received concerns about the impact it would have on the wider area and have accommodated the requests.
A spokesperson for SP Electricity North West said: “We consulted with the owner of the building, which houses our equipment and several businesses, before agreeing the original time and date to minimise impact.
“We then provided all affected businesses with four weeks’ notice, which allows us time to take individual businesses’ views into account, and we’re happy to reschedule the work for an alternative date in the new year.”
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