A commuter was left scratching his head in total confusion when he asked for a splash of oat milk in his coffee at a station cafe, only to be met with a bewildering reply.
Oat, coconut, almond and soy milk are pretty much staples on the menu across Blighty for those who dodge dairy. But one man, 39, was utterly taken aback to find out that WHSmith at Bolton Station was strictly old school offering only regular milk.
Paul Whitley, who'd made the trek from Greater Manchester to the northern stop-off, hit up X (formerly Twitter) to share his bemusement.
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He said: "I'm in Bolton train station and I asked for oat milk in my coffee and the lady told me 'they don't do that kind of thing here'."
The arts centre manager, from Sheffield, explained "'the staff member was nice", but they could only rustle up skimmed milk as a sub, even though they had a whopping six syrup flavours on tap.
According to the Mirror, he quipped: "I don't think she was lying. They did offer iced coffee on the menu. The staff member was nice. I'd hate to get her in trouble."
![Paul Whitley was shocked at the response when he asked for coffee with his oat milk](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article32708605.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_Takeaway-coffee-cups-on-a-wooden-table-casting-long-shadows.jpg)
Oat milk, squeezed out of whole oat grains, is a trendy cow's milk swap favoured by the one in 10 Brits who can't stomach lactose and the millions more who've gone vegan.
Since his video went viral, it's notched up over three million views, with loads of people chiming in about their own bonkers experiences.
One user commented: "My mother in law once asked for oat drink in her tea in a cafe. She heard the waitress around the back asking her boss what it was, and the boss replied 'Just use skimmed milk'."
Another shared their own facepalm moment: "When my husband asked once in a hotel 'what milk choices have you got? ', [they] replied 'hot or cold'." A third replied: "I once asked for for a tin of macaroni cheese in a Bolton shop and was told I needed to go to the 'big shops in Swinton' if I wanted that type of thing."
The saga even made waves on Jeremy Vine's Radio 2 show, where listeners were buzzing in from all corners to throw in their two cents.
A proud Boltonian piped up: "Having grown up in Bolton, I can confirm the milk choices available in the majority of Bolton are 'milk' and 'no milk'. We're a simple folk."
WHSmith has been approached for comment.
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