CENTRAL London was plunged into darkness this evening after a power outage in the city's West End.

Shocking images have emerged of a total blackout in Piccadilly Circus, Soho and Chinatown - areas which are hugely popular with tourists - which started at 5:16pm.

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The outage left Piccadilly Circus unrecognisable as its iconic advertising billboards flickered out - and people in nearby offices were forced to work in darkness.

Meanwhile, the power cut also shut down scores of restaurants, hotels and bars - as well as the theatres in the heart of the city's West End, leaving many theatregoers disappointed as shows were cancelled.

Witnesses reported that police were on the scene directing traffic.

A UK Power Networks spokesman confirmed power was restored at around 9:10pm - almost four hours after it failed.

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Witness Anthony Hall, who works in the film industry and was preparing for a private screening at the Ham Yard Hotel in Soho when the power failed, said there was a sense of panic in the streets.

He told The Sun Online: "It actually felt like there was lightning in the room, it was a proper real strong flicker of light.

"It's a very strange feeling knowing that in your iconic London landmarks like Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square, the lights are down.

"There was a sense of panic - all the lights went down in the rush hour on Black Friday.

"People are using their phones now to see where they're going in the streets.

"At the moment there's nothing sinister happening right, but it's quite a scary experience. It's just surprising that there's no generators."

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He added: "You'd expect to have more police around, people just communicating through the main areas."

Transport for London confirmed to The Sun Online that the Tube network was not affected by the power outage.

However, social media users still reported that the outage had caused chaos in the area, as one user wrote: "This blackout in London is causing absolute carnage."

Another added: "You can't see where you are walking throughout Soho, Shaftesbury Avenue, Piccadilly Circus and Chinatown. Astonishing. No traffic lights."