UK bakery chain Greggs to stay closed as it fears sausage roll queues

Greggs stores are to remain closed due to lockdown measures. Paul Ellis/AFP

British bakery chain Greggs says it has opted against reopening next week over worries that it could draw in hordes of hungry shoppers whose appetite has been whetted by weeks of lockdown.

The food chain, famed for its sausage rolls and vegan snacks, has changed its mind on reopening 20 stores next week due to risks over coronavirus social distancing, it said.

Greggs has more than 2,050 shops across the UK, which have all been closed since 24 March, when the country went into COVID-19 lockdown, even though the government allowed takeaway outlets to stay open.

The company said on Monday it planned to reopen 20 shops in Newcastle, in the north east of England, from next week in a trial to see if it can operate effectively with social distancing measures as the lockdown is eased.

Shoppers have been queuing two meters apart outside stores. /AP

However, it has now had a change of heart.

"Due to significant interest in our 20-shop trial and the risk that excessive numbers of customers may plan to visit Greggs, we will now initially operate these trials behind closed doors in order to effectively test our new operational safety measures," said a Greggs spokeswoman.

"We will continue to review this and will invite walk-in customers into our shops only when we can be confident of doing so in the controlled manner we intended."

Greggs had hoped that if feedback was positive from the trial it could move to phase two, with 700 shops reopening.

It had cautioned that phase two would only be possible if the government has taken a first step to relax the lockdown, which could be to reopen schools, allowing more people to return to work.

Greggs' assumption was based on schools reopening on the 1 June, allowing the phase two shops to start trading again on 8 June.

The final phase of its initial plan was to open all shops with new operational measures in place by the 1 July, which is when the government's job-retention furlough scheme is currently scheduled to end.