SOMERFIELD supermarket in High Street, Devizes had to close for most of Monday, after a pipe burst and much of the sales floor was flooded.

The decision to close the store was made at around 10am, shortly after water gushed into the store, damaging goods at ground level.

Despite efforts by members of staff to mop up the water and clear the mess, the shop was closed from until 8am on Tuesday.

A spokesman for Somerfield said: "It was just one of those things that goes wrong when the weather changes. We decided for the safety of customers and staff that the store should close.

"Thankfully it didn't happen a week later when we could have been really busy with people doing their Christmas food shopping.

"As it was, there was some minor damage to fittings and a few cans and packets had to be thrown away."

Staff were kept busy until almost 5pm on Monday, mopping up and cleaning, ready for opening the following morning.