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The makers of a popular breakfast cereal are going the extra mile to celebrate its producers by proposing to name a whole county in its honour.

Weetabix, the company behind the cereal, is petitioning, via popular platform Change.org, to create a brand-new UK county - Weetabixshire.

The region will form a 50-mile radius around the cereal's production mills in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire and will include many of its farm-based suppliers.

According to the firm, more than 150 farms produce 75,000 metric tonnes of wheat every year across over 162,000 ha (around 400,000 acres). 

The company said the name change was a 'fitting tribute' to its 1,100 workers and 'brilliant' local farmers who help to produce 11 million Weetabix biscuits every day while minimising the food's carbon footprint.

Weetabix farmer, Jim Beaty, said: "My farm is less than a mile from the Weetabix mills and I can smell the Bix being made every morning, so seeing all these people come down to the local area in support of Weetabixshire, fills me with such pride.

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Three 7ft tall ‘Welcome to Weetabixshire' signs have already been erected in town of Burton Latimer, to mark the centre of Weetabixshire, as well as on the edges of St Neots and Rutland to pointedly mark the new proposed county lines.

The company has also rebranded the local cricket club and Meadowside Primary School to reflect the new ‘county' moniker.

"It shows how much the community values us for the jobs we do on a daily basis, and I can't express my gratitude enough towards them."

Conservative MP Philip Hollobone, whose constituency covers Burton Latimer, said: "We are fully behind Weetabix in its campaign to create Weetabixshire - as long as we can be the capital of course." 

However, not everyone was happy with the stunt as one passer-by branded the campaign ‘wrong', saying, ‘You would not rebrand Milton Keynes, would you?' Burton Latimer resident Steve Battison also rejected the notion, and said: "It's a cereal box, not a county!"

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