BUSINESSES in Old Town are currently without water as a mysterious blockage has hit the area.

Juice bar The Core, Rays Ice Cream in Devizes Road and Bardolino, among many others, have been hit by the water shortage.

Hadi Brooks, the owner of Rays, said she was completely without water.

“We can keep going for now, but I might soon be a problem. We have hand sanitiser to wash our hands and there’s enough water in the coffee machine for us to be able to serve a handful of people.”

Thames Water have confirmed that a team is on the way to investigate and they hope to have the problem solved by 5pm.

Bardolino proprietor Manni Madhani said it’s the second time this has happened since Christmas.

“Something really needs to be done about this,” he said. “The pipes around here are very old and it’s causing huge inconvenience.”

Workmen are currently on site and believe the problem stems from a burst water main on East Wichel Way.

A spokesman for Thames water said: “We’re sorry for the disruption a problem with our network is causing. We’ve sent a team of technicians to investigate the issue and are working hard to get everything back to normal as soon as possible.”

Updates to follow.