More than 65,000 people have signed a petition urging a council to reinstate the pitch of a wildly popular jacket potato seller.
Spudman, also known as Ben Newman, has 4 million followers on TikTok who watch as he serves potatoes with generous toppings that include cheese, beans, tuna mayonnaise and chicken curry. One customer asked for his bag of Chilli Heatwave Doritos to be topped up with cheese, minced beef, nacho cheese sauce, crispy onions and honey.
People come from miles around, sometimes from around the world. But in the past few days Spudman has been posting about his problems with Tamworth council in Staffordshire, which he says wants to move the pitch he has occupied for 22 years.
“I have lost my pitch to a flower bed,” he said. “A flower bed is more important than me. They have offered to ‘move’ me. I don’t want to be moved … I want to stand on my pitch. That’s where I’ve built my business, that’s where everyone knows I am.”
Spudman also talks in his post about contracts being changed which mean he has to reapply every 12 months.
“I feel so, just destroyed, by this … a flower bed on my pitch and ‘we’ll move you somewhere’,” he said.
There are “a thousand other towns who would love the footfall we bring”.
Spudman said the support since posting had been amazing, including other towns offering a pitch.
A petition on Change.org calls for the council to reinstate his original pitch. On Monday afternoon it had reached more than 65,000 signatures.
Tamworth council said street food vendors were being temporarily moved for regeneration work and that Spudman would be able to return to a pitch just a few metres from his current one.
The council’s leader, Carol Dean, said: “We very much value small local businesses in Tamworth. One such local business is the much-loved Spudman.”
She said the redevelopment of St Editha’s Square, which includes a new town centre college campus, would bring hundreds of people into the town every day and improve footfall for all town centre businesses.
Spudman said in an update on Monday afternoon that there was no news except that he was expecting to meet council managers on Tuesday morning.
