Had to add this lol, my mate's reason to one of the shops hever never have rats:
They never have rats. But to be fair, its because of the ice/ snow/ train strike/ road strike/ nuclear holocaust/ extinction of rats/ outlawing of rats/ outbreak of civil war/ rabies outbreak/ zombie apocolypse/ monsoon/ tornado/ earthquake/ Godzilla attack/ plague/ hostage situation/ recession/ death of supplier/ death of supplier's mum/ rat strike/ Loch-ness monster attack/ badger attack/ communist conspiracy or EU sanctions on frozen rodents... so its not really their fault.