A popular Oldham cafe which has suffered from a run of bad luck over the past few months said it is 'cursed' as it was forced to close again this week.
Clean Plate Kitchen on Silver Street, opposite Spindles car park in the town centre, said it was forced to temporarily close on Monday (July 17) after the electrics "blew" at some point over the weekend.
The cafe owner, Collette Hall, said in a notice to customers that the power cut affected its fridges and caused its freezers to defrost.
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She wrote in a post on social media: "Good morning from Clean Plate Cursed Kitchen."
She was then tasked with sorting things out, "emptying everything" and restocking items as quickly as possible as of 8am with high hopes of reopening again at 11am.
Fortunately, staff managed to resolve the issue and the cafe was "fully up and running" again as of 11.30am with special deals, including £1 doughnuts.
It is not the first time the cafe, which prides itself on homemade pies and cakes, has been forced to shut due to the condition of the building.
In February this year, Clean Plate Kitchen had become embroiled in a "running battle" with the roof as countless repairs to it failed to take hold.
By March, water was pouring in from the damaged roof and the shop became flooded numerous times.
The water damage was so severe that it impacted the electrics, jeopardised stock and even broke its pie warmer - and the cafe had to take time to put the finances in place to patch it up.
A post on social media read: "Due to the current economic climate, we are already struggling to even break even with spiralling food and utility costs and decreased footfall and spending.
"Closing is an absolute disaster for us and we are only closed because we absolutely cannot open."
The shop was then shut for at least five weeks while the repair works were underway.
Then gas works outside the shop dented footfall - and income - once again for 10 days.
"It's feeling like an uphill battle", another post read.
However, the cafe did finally swing its doors back open to customers in April with a fully repaired roof.
If you have a story, I cover all things Oldham from food reviews and local business news to music and events, pubs, education, crime, property, health, community concerns and much more. Please email me at Olivia.bridge@newsquest.co.uk or send me a message on Twitter @Livbridge with your news.
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