Greggs puts brakes on reopening 20 shops amid social distancing concerns
The IndependentSign up to IndyEat's free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releases Get our food and drink newsletter for free Get our food and drink newsletter for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Popular bakery chain Greggs has delayed reopening 20 shops next week over fears large crowds could gather and spread the virus. “So we are planning to conduct a limited trial with volunteers to explore how we can reopen our shops with new measures in place that will keep our colleagues and customers as safe as we can when we reopen at scale.” But executives at the bakery firm have now put the brakes on reopening shops, citing social distancing concerns. “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,” a spokesperson said on Thursday. “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 next month.
History of this topic
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