Households and businesses were without water for most of the weekend after a water pipe burst.

Water was reportedly cut off to properties in Chigwell postcodes IG5, IG6, IG7 and IG8 after a leak in a Thames Water pipe in Vicarage Lane.

Residents noticed the fault at around 6.30am on Saturday and were not reconnected until Sunday evening.

The Two Brewers pub in Chigwell Row was cut off from 9am on Sunday until 5pm - and then again at 8pm.

Manager Andy Vickers said: “We make most of our money on a weekend and most of that comes from people coming in to have food.

“I couldn’t serve food because it is illegal to do so if you have no running water and there were only had a handful of drinkers in.

“We probably lost in the region of four or five thousand pounds.

"I called Thames Water four or five times yesterday and the recorded message said it had affected IG5, IG6, IG7, and IG8."

John Knapman, county councillor for Chigwell Village and resident of The Bowls, Chigwell, was also affected.

He said: “This sort of thing is unacceptable there’s clearly a problem within the piping which is causing it to burst every time it has a repair.

“There have been 10 similar incidents in the last 18 months and Vicarage Lane is constantly running with water.”

Cllr Knapman also reported the problem affected electricity supply, which was restored within about two hours.

A spokeswoman for Thames Water said: “We’re sorry to customers who experienced interruptions to their water supply over the weekend.

“The problems were caused by a leaking 6-inch water main which was difficult to repair as it was located near to other utility services which we had to work around.

“We were able to restore supply to most customers yesterday afternoon with the remaining few having their water back on this morning.”