Waitrose bans Warburtons from shelves to shoppers’ disgust

Waitrose has mysteriously eliminated all Warburtons products, including its popular crumpets, sparking fury from customers who today vowed to shop elsewhere.

The baker, run by Brexit advocate Jonathan Warburton, sells 124 million of the grilled teatime treats a year, with some shoppers claiming the mid-range supermarket’s decision was “a must” because its owner supports Britain’s exit from the EU have.

Sales of crumpets in the UK are up 10 per cent year-on-year, but Waitrose has mysteriously canceled its deal with the country’s biggest manufacturer, Warburtons, as the supermarket’s crumpets sales fell 15 per cent.

Critics have brought up the politics of the Bolton bakery owner, who declared after the 2016 Brexit referendum: “Brexit is a very good thing that happened”.

Mr Warburton, who stars in his commercials alongside George Clooney, Robert De Niro and The Muppets, also agreed that the company could make a £25,000 donation to the Conservative Party in 2010.

Some have vowed to boycott Waitrose outright after the supermarket said the baker’s “performance fell short of expectations”, in a series reminiscent of a dispute between Tesco and Heinz in 2022 over baked beans and ketchup disappeared from the shelves.

One customer tweeted Waitrose to say: “I totally disagree with your decision to delist @Warburtons products. Their excellent flatbreads are a nation’s favourite. But another pointed out: “Surely there MUST be a Brexit angle?” Another customer said: “@waitrose has a dispute with @Warburtons – will be shopping at Sainsbury’s then. It doesn’t work without it!’

Robert De Niro stars in an advert with Jonathan Warburton, the chairman of the bake shop, who said Brexit would be good for Britain. Waitrose pulled all of its products over ‘performance’

This Waitrose customer says they will shop elsewhere, namely Sainsbury’s

A social media user was among those who insisted Brexit was a factor

Another customer said he “totally disagrees” with the decision

A social media user shared a Waitrose post from 2022 which he claims has been deleted. The post states that there were fewer Warburtons products in stock because other products were more popular.

Warburtons: 147-year-old British family-owned baker from Bolton that turned to Robert DeNiro’s talents to increase sales

Bakery boss Jonathan Warburton in one of their ads

Warburtons was founded in 1876 by Thomas Warburton and is based in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

For much of its history Warburtons only had bakeries in Lancashire and remains a family business.

The company, which currently employs almost 5,000 people, embarked on a major expansion program in the late 1990s which continued through the 2000s and has grown across the UK after being relatively unknown outside the Bolton and Manchester area.

It was Britain’s sixth largest food and drink brand last year, ahead of McVities, Birds Eye and Pepsi, according to consultancy Nielsen.

It has been tried in recent years to stem the decline in sales of its packaged bread products with new bagel and wrap categories.

As is well known, it hired US actors Robert De Niro appears as a Mafia-style bagel boss for his advert.

Waitrose has been bombarded with messages on social media as to why Warburtons bread and related products are no longer on sale. MailOnline has reached out to both Waitrose and Warburtons for comment.

Waitrose claimed this weekend that Warburtons’ “performance fell short of our expectations,” in a rebuke that prompted the bakery’s chairman, Jonathan Warburton, to describe the removal of its products from store shelves across the country as “a shame”.

Shoppers have expressed anger and demanded the products return to their shelves, claiming that Hovis’ own-brand crumpets and those of Hovis’ rivals are not of the same standard.

The supermarket still stocks produce from Buckinghamshire-based Hovis, Warburton’s biggest competitor, and is leaving Waitrose has been isolated among the best grocers, with rival supermarket chains Tesco and Sainsbury’s still stocking warburtons’ wares.

It will likely put pressure on Waitrose boss James Bailey, who has been scrambling to keep the supermarket from losing ground to rivals – after a report showed Waitrose’s share of the grocery market fell to 4.1% from 5.1% at the end of December .7 percent had fallen a year earlier.

A spokesman for Warburtons told MailOnline: “At Warburtons, quality is paramount. We put a lot of care into the 2 million products we bake and ship to over 19,000 stores across the country every day.

“We know consumers recognize the quality and value of our products and that’s why we’re the number one bakery brand in the UK. It’s a shame Waitrose chose to take us off the list last year and we’d obviously love to feature on their shelves again in the future.’

A Waitrose spokesman told The Telegraph: “We stopped selling Warburtons products a year ago after their performance did not meet our expectations. We are focused on delivering fantastic, value for money products that our customers love and remain open to working with Warburtons in the future.’

In response to the move, angry shoppers tweeted: “Oh god @waitrose – please don’t let @Warburtons go. They were always delicious when I bought them #crumpets’.

Another said: “@waitrose I completely disagree with your decision to delist @Warburtons products. Among other things, their excellent crumpets are nation favorites and their whole wheat bread is perfect with no added sugar, just two examples of their top quality produce. Please reconsider’.

A third tweeted: “@Warburtons @Waitrose sorry to hear you fell out with Waitrose – will miss your products.”

Waitrose said: “We stopped selling Warburtons products a year ago after their performance did not meet our expectations. We are focused on delivering fantastic, value for money products that our customers love and remain open to working with Warburtons in the future.’

Others asked for their loved ones to return

Warburtons was founded in 1876 by Thomas Warburton and is based in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

For much of its history Warburtons only had bakeries in Lancashire and remains a family business.

The company, which currently employs almost 5,000 people, embarked on a major expansion program in the late 1990s which continued through the 2000s and has grown across the UK after being relatively unknown outside the Bolton and Manchester area.

It was Britain’s sixth largest food and drink brand last year, ahead of McVities, Birds Eye and Pepsi, according to consultancy Nielsen.

It has been tried in recent years to stem the decline in sales of its packaged bread products with new bagel and wrap categories.

As is well known, it hired US actors Robert De Niro appears as a Mafia-style bagel boss for his advert.

The dispute between Waitrose and Warburtons is likely to draw parallels to the dispute between Tesco and Heinz last year, when Heinz pulled baked beans and ketchup from shelves after attempts by the US brand to raise prices were ignored by the supermarket.

Marmite jars were pulled from Tesco shelves in 2016 when the supermarket resisted an attempt by Unilever to hike wholesale prices.