Flooding caused severe damage to the road surface in St John Street, Clerkenwell, on Wednesday after a Victorian mains pipe burst

THOUSANDS of people were left without running water this week after a mains pipe burst in Clerkenwell – six months after floods caused by such a rupture wrecked homes and businesses in Angel.

The breach of the Thames Water-maintained Victorian pipe sent water gushing down St John Street and flooded a pub’s basement at 2am on Wednesday. It left families in streets including Prebend Street, Coleman Fields, City Road and St Peter’s Street without running water on the hottest day of the year so far.

The water supply in Clerkenwell, Finsbury, Angel and parts of Hackney was affected and schools had to be closed. The Town Hall said 2,400 council homes in 47 blocks experienced low water pressure or had no water at all.

Sam Pryor, manager of The Blacksmith and The Toffeemaker pub, whose basement was flooded

Mother-of-one Sarah, 39, who did want to give her surname, said residents in her block of flats in Coleman Fields had their water turned off at 8am on Wednesday and were left without water for 28 hours.

“How can you function in this heat, especially when you have kids, without water?,” she said. “There are about 14 kids in this block all under the age of 10. They haven’t been able to wash or use the toilet. It’s been a very sorry state of affairs. A lot of people are very unhappy.”

Hanover Primary School and the City of London Academy Islington in Angel were forced to close on Wednesday as they had no running water.

It comes six months after a burst pipe in Upper Street caused major floods that destroyed dozens of properties in Angel. It left the water company with a repair bill of tens of millions of pounds.

Overnight flooding in Clerkenwell. Photo: London Fire Brigade

St Peter’s ward councillor and Angel resident Martin Klute, who had no running water on Wednesday morning, said: “The worst thing was that the council had no notification from Thames Water about what was going on. Again, they just seem woefully unprepared with emergency incidents.”

Questions are mounting for Thames over the maintenance of its creaking Victorian infrastructure and critics have blasted the privatised utility firm for failing to invest.

Sam Pryor, manager of The Blacksmith and The Toffeemaker pub, which had its basement flooded, said: “I just think after today we need to renationalise the water companies. Trying to sort this out with loads of different companies is a complete joke.”

St Peter’s Street resident Mathilde Taylor added: “The worry Islingtonians have had since the burst pipe in December is that the mains and pipes are really in a terrible state and no serious, planned, proactive investment is yet under way.”

Flooding damages the road in St John Street. Photo: Islington Council

A Thames Water spokesman said it had engineers at the scene at 3am – 45 minutes after the burst was first reported.

He added: “We worked through the morning to isolate the damaged pipe and to reroute the water supply for customers, and the water supply has now returned to normal. As part of the repair, engineers are digging out the damaged section of pipe and replacing it, before relaying the road. We expect this to take approximately two weeks.”

The water firm has said it has invested an average of more than £1billion a year in 10 years, including spending on the renewal of more than 1,700 miles of ageing water mains. The pipe in Upper Street is currently being replaced.

St John Street will be shut from the junction with Rosebery Avenue to the junction with Myddelton Street and Spencer Street for the duration of the works.

• Additional reporting by Sabrina Dougall.