Greggs abandons sausage roll court fight as Westminster City Council backs down on demands
ate-night sausage roll followers could quickly breathe a sigh of aid after Greggs mentioned it had reached a cope with Westminster City Council over the vary of merchandise it might promote within the early hours of the morning in central London, the Standard can reveal.
The bakery agency was set to start a three-day court listening to as quickly as immediately after Westminster refused permission for warm meals and drinks to be bought after 11pm at its Leicester Square department, however boss Roisin Currie mentioned the listening to had been referred to as off.
She informed the Standard: “We’ve now received an settlement with Westminster — we’ve reached a compromise.
“We can nonetheless promote all of our sandwiches, all of our candy merchandise [late at night] however we’ve been working with the council on what we will promote later within the night. It’s very optimistic and we’ve labored nicely collectively.”
Greggs mentioned it will lay out full particulars of its cope with Westminster sooner or later.
Aicha Less, deputy chief of Westminster City Council, mentioned:“Based on the deserves of this case, Westminster have come to an settlement with Greggs that works for everybody.
“We are happy to proceed to assist native companies and look ahead to working with the corporate going ahead.”
The Metropolitan Police, Environmental Health, three native Westminster councillors and one resident had complained concerning the bakery’s plans to promote sizzling foods and drinks into the early hours of the morning on weekends.
“It is our belief that if granted, the application could undermine the licensing objectives in relation to the prevention of crime and disorder,” the Met mentioned.
Greggs mentioned clients may develop into “confused” if its full menu was not obtainable to all of them night and could be extra prone to trigger bother.
It provided to make use of safety guards carrying physique cameras on the Leicester Square location to make sure security, however the request was nonetheless refused.
Westminster Council beforehand mentioned the licensing committee “refused to grant the application on policy grounds” as a result of Greggs had “failed to demonstrate exceptional reasons as to why the application would not have a negative impact on the West End”.
It added: “Greggs would need to try to convince the court that their evidence provides exceptional reasons for allowing the Premises to operate until 5am, despite being located in a cumulative impact zone.”
It comes as Greggs posted gross sales development of 17.1% within the first 19 weeks of 2023, as evermore price-sensitive clients flocked to its shops for an inexpensive chunk to eat.
It additionally ramped up its vary of meat-free choices together with the brand new Vegan Mexican Chicken-Free Bake.
The Newcastle-based enterprise is eyeing enlargement throughout UK airports with new shops opening in Glasgow, Cardiff and Gatwick. Bankers in the hunt for a bake can even go to its new retailer in Canary Wharf and soon-to-be-opened Moorgate department.
