The small Welsh village of Cyffylliog has found itself at the center of a bizarre prank. Shoppers in search of an Aldi supermarket, which appeared on Google Maps thanks to internet troll, have been flocking to the area, only to find a grassy field instead of the budget-friendly retailer they expected.
The trouble began when someone used Google Maps’ “add a missing place” feature to pin a fake Aldi location in Cyffylliog. Since then, the village has been inundated with confused visitors following their GPS directions to the non-existent supermarket. Delivery drivers, grocery vans, and even a man with a pallet of bread have shown up looking for the store, adding to the surreal nature of the situation. The disruption reached new heights when a milk tanker attempted to make a delivery and became stuck on one of the village’s narrow roads, blocking access for hours.
Residents have been left frustrated by the constant stream of people knocking on doors or wandering around looking for the imaginary store. “We’ve had people asking where the Aldi is, delivery vans trying to find a nonexistent loading dock, and even a bloke with bread who thought he’d been hired to stock shelves,” one villager shared.
While the prank has amused online audiences, sparking memes and jokes about the “phantom Aldi,” the villagers are less entertained. Tourists have been seen holding shopping baskets in the empty field, posing in front of a sign that reads, “Welcome to Cyffylliog. No Aldi here. Try Denbigh,” or even digging for what they jokingly call “Aldi treasure.” However, for the residents, the disruptions have been anything but funny.
“It’s one thing having tourists turn up looking for Aldi,” local man Dafydd Hughes said, “but when you’ve got a lorry full of milk clogging up the road, you start to question what’s happening in the world.”
After the milk tanker incident went viral, Aldi stepped in to address the issue. A spokesperson for the company confirmed that they have no plans to open a store in Cyffylliog and worked with Google to remove the false listing. The announcement came as a relief to the village, which has been trying to have the prank listing taken down for weeks.
“Honestly, if we had a pound for every car that’s shown up, we could’ve opened our own Aldi by now,” Hughes joked, summing up the absurdity of the situation.
While Google Maps has proven to be a valuable tool for navigation, the Cyffylliog incident shows how easily the platform can be manipulated. For the villagers, the hope is that life will soon return to normal and that their community will no longer be a detour for bargain hunters chasing a fictional supermarket.
