Budgens

About this location

A few stories people tell about this place

1. One morning, as customers were stocking up on groceries, an announcement crackled over Budgen’s intercom: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, please be advised that our self-checkout aisle now doubles as a lottery terminal. Scan your items for a chance to win free groceries!’ A delivery driver scanned his goods, won five packets of chips, and promptly tried to leave without paying. A security guard appeared from nowhere and said, 'Congratulations! Now you can pay with those!' Everyone laughed, and Budgens became famous for its friendly lotteries.

2. At dawn, when Budgens’ parking lot was still shadowed and quiet, a delivery truck arrived with its engine purring like a contented cat. But instead of boxes of cereal or bags of chips, workers carried out large cardboard containers labeled ‘Special Order Only.’ Inside, a regular customer noticed something strange—an unfamiliar brand of cookies on the shelf. He picked one up curiously, only to discover it was filled with chocolate coins wrapped in newspaper clippings from 1987. Everyone burst into laughter as they realized these were last year’s special orders meant for another store. The end result? A week-long tradition of trading mystery cookies became a neighborhood joke.

3. In the early hours of one foggy morning, a delivery driver parked his truck outside Budgens. Suddenly, from within the mist, a small voice cried out: ‘Mister, where are you taking those boxes?’ The delivery driver turned around, but saw no one. Just as he was about to laugh it off, another voice whispered, 'They’re all mine!' Startled, he looked down and found a tiny mouse peeking out from behind a box. With a smile, he ruffled its fur and said, 'Next time, little friend, use the customer service entrance.'

4. In the middle of a routine shopping trip, a customer asked Budgens’ cashier, ‘Do you ever get tired of scanning these same items?’ Little did they know that their question would soon be answered in the most unexpected way. Suddenly, all the barcodes on the products started glowing, and everything went quiet. The cashier looked up, smiled sheepishly and said, 'Welcome to our new self-checkout experiment!' The regular laughed it off, knowing it was just another day at Budgens.