A mouse was seen in an east London branch of a leading supermarket chain.

A video shared on Instagram showed the animal close to the bakery section of a Sainsbury's Local on High Road in Ilford.

With more than a thousand likes, it triggered a mix of delight and disgust among the viewers.

One commenter compared the rat to the star of Disney's Ratatouille, while another pledged to “never eat from supermarket open bakery”.

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A concerned commenter urged food hygiene inspectors to visit the store.

The Recorder contacted Sainsbury's for a comment, and a spokesperson said that once the pest was discovered, they quickly caught and removed it.

As a precaution, they added, a full inspection of the store was carried out by their team.

The spokesperson said: “All our stores have strict pest control and hygiene processes. These are in place at our High Road Ilford store.

“Our pest control contractor will be repeating this (the inspection) regularly over the next few weeks to ensure our preventative measures are working and that there are no further issues.”