Shoppers launch petition about 'filthy' supermarket in Milton Keynes

Fed up shoppers have launched a petition for their town's supermarket to clean up its act or close down.

'The People vs Budgens' petition was launched online today in Stony Stratford.

It claims their Budgens store, which has a hygiene rating of 'requiring major improvement' by the council, is dirty, badly stocked and badly run.

And it alleges: "Stony Stratford describes itself as 'The Jewel of Milton Keynes' unfortunately the same cannot be said for towns' only supermarket. It is filthy, has empty shelves, the random food it does have is either already out of date or about to go out of date, and it is in desperate need of investment, even if that investment is just good management with someone who knows how to properly run a shop," states the petition.

The petition adds: "This is a massive blight to the community of Stony Stratford. It is a well-placed, decent-sized supermarket in a fairly affluent area that has the potential to be an absolute goldmine. Instead, people are now voting with their feet and deciding to shop in the neighboring town of Wolverton.

"The only reason Budgens still has customers is that mobility issues leaves many locals with no other choice. Being that it is the only supermarket in the area, it has a monopoly and because of that, it seems that the owners/management will keep running it into the ground and do nothing to change this pitiful excuse for a shop."

The petition quotes a string of Google reviews slamming the supermarket, which is run as a franchise.

Many people are calling for it to be closed down so it can be bought up by another brand.

The petition states: "Budgens, Bookers or anyone that cares about the Budgens brand could visit any time of the day or night and would be appalled at what they would find. There are plenty of wonderful Budgens franchises in the UK and this has the potential to be up there with the very best. The people who are in charge of the Stony Stratford store need to care more and try harder. If more effort was put into this decent-sized store, better fresh produce, properly stocked with items that people need, it would very quickly become well supported and very much loved."

A spokesman for Budgens told the Citizen: "All Budgens stores are independently owned which means we have no operational control. Our team is always available and works hard with retailers to help them improve and maintain standards and will be picking up again with this store directly."

You can sign the petition here.