A British pub shut down for 30 minutes and brought in pest control after a fearless rat scurried up a customer’s leg and stole a chip out of his hand.
The victim of the random chip theft was Reece Coombs, who was minding his own business in the Albany Palace (part of the JD Wetherspoon pub chain) in Trowbridge on Tuesday when the hairy thief struck.
“It felt like somebody had kicked me, then a rat ran up my leg and took the chip out of my hand and bolted,” Coombs told the BBC.
“I thought, ‘that rat has some serious confidence’,” Coombs continued.
“I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I can’t stand rats and you never expect that kind of thing in a restaurant.”
A spokesperson from Wetherspoon confirmed the presence of two rats in the pub to BBC and suggested that fly tipping in a nearby alley may have been to blame.
There seems to be some confusion about the matter of the chip theft, however. While Coombs claims the rat took the chip from his hand while he was eating, the spokesperson “could not confirm” this (although they did say Wetherspoon “was aware that a rat took a chip which had fallen on the floor from a customer’s meal”).
“We aim to uphold the highest standards in our pubs at all times and apologise to customers for this situation,” the pub said.
Meanwhile, Coombs received a full refund for his meal.