Water pressure in Wootton Bassett and Lyneham should begin to recover from midday today with engineering work completed to repair the broken mains pipe that affected thousands of people yesterday.

An estimated 500 homes across Wootton Bassett and Lyneham are without water or experiencing low pressure with 1,000 households affected in total.

A spokesman said that repairs to the burst pipe had been completed overnight and the supply was reconnected at about 6.30am today.

Water pressure within the system should begin to recover from midday with Lyneham pumps expected to be restarted within two hours.

Royal Wootton Bassett Academy remains closed this morning with planned events including a garden party for the elderly, a governors meeting and a practice GCSE drama performance cancelled.

The school is now looking into a contingency plan to ensure the school can open tomorrow.

The Angel Hotel and Sally Pussey's Inn have also failed to get running water back today impacting heavily upon business and resulting in the cancellation of bookings with guests unable to shower or have breakfast.

Norah Thomas, of Sally Pussey's, said: "It's a big loss being closed today and I have had to cancel all our lunch bookings as we still have no water supply.

"We hope to be open tonight but I just don't know at the moment."

Bottled water was sent out at 7am this morning  to the Lyneham Express shop (on the A3102 Lyneham (opposite Teal Avenue) St Mary's Church, Bradenstoke and the Borough Fields car park in Royal Wootton Bassett with stocks replenished throughout the day.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: "We're really sorry to those people who still have no water this morning.

"Our team worked through the night to repair yesterday’s burst pipe but it will now take several hours for water pressure to return to their usual levels.

"We’ll continue to provide bottled water at collection points outside Tesco in Lyneham and Sainsburys in Wootton Bassett for as long as necessary.”

Those who have been cut off for 24 hours will have £30 automatically deducted from their water bills.