Tesco issues apology after putting up Welsh signs... in Cornwall supermarket

Councillor Loveday Jenkin, a leading member of Cornish nationalist party Mebyon Kernow, said she was pleased Tesco put up bilingual signs.

She then jabbed: “But it would have been more exciting if they had been in Cornish rather than Welsh.”

She thanked customer service at the Helston Tesco – which happens to be her local – to thank them for their effort.

Mrs Jenkin said some words are similar across the two languages, with fish in Cornish being psyk, and sweet potato is aval dor melys.

She said she hoped the incident would not put off Tesco.

“Some other supermarkets and shops do have signs in Cornish. You see much more Cornish on road signs and on public buildings,” she said.

The mistake comes after Kernewek - Cornish - officially received the same protected status as Welsh, Irish, Scottish, and Gaelic two months ago.

Cornwall Council estimates that there are 500 advanced Cornish speakers and 2,500 to 5,000 with a basic level of the language.

Perran Moon, the Labour MP for Camborne and Redruth, said: “We are also pleased that retailers are starting to use bilingual signage, however, clearly this mistake serves to highlight the importance of access to the Cornish language for those who want to use.”

Garry Tregidga, co-director of the University of Exeter’s Institute for Cornish Studies, said: “This is obviously embarrassing for Tesco but it is great if there was the intention to have signs in Cornish.

“I hope there will be replacement signs put up in the right language.”

“What is also positive is that this mistake was spotted. This is a sign of the increasing number of people who are using and recognising Cornish.

“If anyone from Tesco needs assistance putting together the new signs there are plenty of people who would be glad to help.”

Welsh is more widely-spoken than Cornish, and the Welsh Government is pushing to have one million people speaking the language by 2050.

Ffred Ffransis, a prominent Welsh language campaigner, told The Guardian he supported efforts to promote Cornish.

He said: “Here in Wales, the campaign is to persuade major companies like Tesco, who impact heavily on everyday life, not to confine their use of Welsh to a one-off production of major signage.”

“All signs advertising day-to-day offers and customer notices should also be bilingual to show that Welsh is a working language.”

The Welsh signs have now been removed. A Tesco spokesman said: “We’re sorry for this mistake and have removed these signs.”