Landlord Mark Elliott is gutted that a power cut left England fans high and dry at his Blackbird Leys pub.

Mr Elliott, 35, was looking forward to his biggest day's takings at The Bullnose Morris as he prepared to serve at least 400 supporters for the game against Paraguay on Saturday.

But he was forced to turn drinkers away when a power cut at 10.30am blacked out his big screen and turned off his tills.

He served cold beers out of the fridge until they ran out, but was forced to direct fans to the Rover social club in Roman Way because the pub was in darkness.

Southern Electric restored power by 2.45pm after repairing a blown fuse on a high-voltage line but by that time it was too late all the punters had gone elsewhere.

"It was heartbreaking all the beer was ready to flow and in the end we had more staff than customers," said Mr Elliott, who has been running the Greene King pub in Cuddeson Way since October, with his wife Catherine.

"It was England's first game and definitely would have been our biggest day of the year so far I reckon we have lost at least £8,000 in takings. We had a competition winner down from the radio station Passion FM and we had to turn him away.

"I have been talking to the brewery, and it will be up to them to seek compensation from Southern Electric. The only consolation is that England won the game."

Mr Elliott himself only got to see the last 20 minutes of the match.

Southern Electric said 79 customers, including the pub, were affected.

Noreen Skinner, 85, of Cuddesdon Way, and her husband had no hot water or breakfast.

Mrs Skinner said: "We couldn't do anything because we are all electric."

Andrea Hopkins, a spokesman for Southern Electric, said: "Engineers rectified the problem with the high-voltage line as soon as they possibly could.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused, and realise that it was a real shame the pub couldn't show the match. Our engineers did everything they could to rectify the fault as quickly as possible, as they do on every occasion."