A BURST pipe in Highworth meant that café staff were forced to borrow a tea urn, and leisure centre users had to use a portable toilet.

Businesses were left without a running tap from around 8.30am yesterday until after the lunchtime rush.

The Co-op was affected, as were the Recreation Centre and several shops in the High Street.

Bett Jackson, of the florist Beds n' Baskets, said: "The first thing I knew was the tap didn't work when we got here this morning. Luckily the plants had been watered recently so they managed."

Monica Pollard restricted customers to a cup of coffee during a trying morning at Brooks's restaurant.

She said: "We were very grateful because a customer came in this morning with an urn full of water.

"It helped us to meet demand but we had to limit people's hot drinks, which isn't ideal when you're trying to welcome someone."

A spokeswoman for Thames Water said: "The problem was caused by an 8in water main on the carriageway between Highworth and Blunsdon which burst around 5.30am.

"We were able to immediately re-source about 90 per cent of affected customers, but there were about 100 households still without water."