Greggs is temporarily closing all UK stores in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus.
Following in the footsteps of McDonald’s, who are closing all stores in the UK and Ireland as of this evening, Greggs has just announced that they will be closing all UK stores, from tomorrow (March 23).
In a statement released on Instagram this evening, Greggs’ Chief Executive Roger Whiteside said:
“We’ve been doing everything we can to keep our shops open and everyone safe but it has become clear that to help us all maintain social distance we need to go further and close all of our shops completely. So, we have made the difficult decision to close all of our shops on Tuesday 24th March.
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Continuing: “While we are closed, we will continue supporting our colleagues with full contract hours for as long as we are able although we will need to keep this under review as the situation develops.
“Whilst our shops will be temporarily closed, our dedication to our communities won’t stop. We’ll continue to provide support to our local communities by distributing any remaining unsold food and offering support for those in hardship through the Greggs Foundation.”
The popular bakery recently rolled out its new delivery service nationwide via Just Eat, however, this will no longer be available as the chain feels that continuing to deliver is “not enough” to maintain social distancing. Gregg’s UK stores will be closed for an unknown length of time, along with popular fast food chains such as McDonald’s, Subway and Nando’s.