Barbican Waitrose shoppers' horror as sewage floods supermarket aisles

Shoppers were marched from a busy Waitrose supermarket after sewage was found seeping down its aisles.

The upmarket store in the Barbican was forced to close after the flood, caused by a toilet malfunction.

Customers complained of a stomach-turning stench at the shop on Saturday evening as sewage flooded part of the floor.

Photos show one of the aisles taped off and a “wet floor” warning sign was put up as staff ushered customers away from the mess.

A 29-year-old, who asked only to be named as Joshua and who lives in the City, said he popped into Waitrose at around 6pm on Saturday evening to buy a few items.

“I have gone in and the place absolutely stinks,” he told the Standard. “The moment you go in you can smell it.

“People are retching and gagging and staff are having to cover their faces.

“The second you walk in the smell hits you. The whole store stinks.”

He said he saw customers holding scarves to their faces as they tried to avoid the unpleasant smell.

He added: “They have taped the whole area off.

“I asked a member of staff what was going on and they said it had all come from a toilet.

“One of the staff said they were going to close.”

The Whitecross Street store, near to the Barbican Centre, closed about three hours before it was due to shut at 9pm on Saturday.

Another customer, Nikki Powers, said on Facebook she also popped into the store where she was greeted with the mess.

She said: “Anyone wanting to take a trip to Waitrose Barbican DON’T.

“The toilets are flooding and contaminated sewage water is flowing down the aisles, and the smell across the whole store is atrocious yet the doors are still open for customers!

“It was gross, the staff had to walk through it to put wet floor signs around."

She added: “People were dumping their shopping and practically flying out the store due to the smell.”

Waitrose apologised to their customers and said the store reopened on Sunday after cleaners spent the night fixing the problem.

A spokesperson said: "A specialised cleaning team attended Waitrose Barbican on Saturday evening and worked through the night to ensure that all areas of the shop floors were extensively cleaned and fully sanitised.

"We're now open for business as usual and are very sorry to our Barbican customers."