UNITED Utilities is hoping to reopen a footpath tomorrow, Thursday, to support shops hit by a major water burst at the weekend.

Businesses in Minshull Street in Knutsford lost their water supplies on Saturday morning when a water main burst, causing water to pour down the street.

United Utilities sent a team out that afternoon to carry out repairs, and restored supplies the same day.

However the burst caused major damage to the road, which has been closed to traffic to allow contractors to undertake repairs.

Businesses worried about the impact of the closure on trade want to see the road reopened as soon as possible.

When the Guardian spoke to United Utilities yesterday, Tuesday, the company could not say when the road would re-open fully, but it was hoping to re-open a footpath access for pedestrians by tomorrow, Thursday, as a priority.

Harrison Wild from Minshull Street menswear store Oliver Wild said his business had lost trade because of the burst, with people unable to access the street from King Street.

King Street had been very busy on Saturday because of Knutsford Music Festival, he said, and he had sold just one shirt on Saturday, and nothing on the following two days.

“The water was coming out of the kerb on the left-hand side of the road, as well as the opposite side, and the middle of the road started to balloon,” he said.

“People were still walking across the road and cars were trying to drive down – it was chaos. It’s an absolute mess, and it needs to be sorted.”

Paula Wood from Saks hair salon saw water gushing down both sides of the street after going to check with a neighbour after losing her supply.

“It looked liked the water had cracked either side of the road – it was like something out of a movie,” she said.

Without any water supply she resorted to bottled water, and thanked her clients for their support and patience.

“Everyone has lost business because of the burst and are really upset,” she said.

“It was very stressful, and it was all dug up outside my premises.”

Seho Karakas, the owner of Café on the Corner, said water started to gush from the café’s back garden on Saturday morning, and he closed early, at 2pm, because of water in the building.

Knutsford Mayor Cllr Andrew Malloy had to reroute his civic parade because of the burst.

A United Utilities spokesman said: “We’re really sorry to traders and people in Knutsford for the disruption Saturday’s burst water main in Minshull Street has caused, especially during a weekend of festivities like the music festival and the mayor’s civic parade.

“Our emergency repair team responded quickly and managed to repair the burst within about 2.5 hours of arriving on site the same afternoon.

“Unfortunately, the burst also caused significant damage to the narrow roadway, which we have had to close to traffic temporarily to carry out a complete repair.

“We completely understand people’s frustrations and are trying to get this work done quickly and safely.

“The presence of some old stone setts is making the reinstatement of the roadway more complex, so it’s difficult to give an accurate estimate of exactly when the road will re-open fully.

“However, we have asked our contractors to make re-opening a footpath access for pedestrians a priority to try to increase the footfall for local businesses and are hopeful this will be done by Thursday [tomorrow].

“We’ll also get some extra signage out to make it clear to shoppers that traders along there are open for business as usual.”

The spokesman added that Saks hair salon experienced subsequent problems with their water supply after the burst, which Paula Wood said was restored at 2pm on Tuesday after the salon had been without water since 10.30am on Saturday.

The spokesman added that United Utilities had visited and helped to clean up floodwater at the Café on the Corner.

Pictures by Jonathan Farber