Lancaster despairs as Greggs closes due to coronavirus

The vegan sausage rolls? Will somebody please think of the vegan sausage rolls!?


It was announced this week that Greggs would be closing indefinitely due to the outbreak of Coronavirus across the UK.

Greggs CEO announced yesterday: “[T]o help us all maintain social distance we need to go further and close all of our shops completely.” All 2,000 of Greggs outlets will be closed from tomorrow. Including the fan-favourite, campus Greggs.

The statement added: “We’ll continue to provide support for our local communities by distributing any remaining unsold food or offering support for those in hardship through the Greggs Foundation.”

I walked into campus Greggs today and three staff looked at me in confusion. “Good afternoon?”. Well, campus Greggs has been clearing stock, collecting together what they can send to food banks and pieing off the rest on unsuspecting (but delighted) customers. I bought my last vegan sausage roll and some of Greggs’ coveted donuts. “Do you want some bread rolls? And fruit, too?” one of the staff asked me. “We need to get rid of this. You can have it for free.” I filled my bag and ran outside in delight to get a photo-shoot with my haul.

My precious…

One student told The Lancaster Tab: “I really thought my North King would make it through. Gutted I didn’t get the chance to have one last chicken bake. I will crave it for the foreseeable future.”

One Physics student told The Tab, “It’s like – you shouldn’t have to close because the people who are sick should be isolating anyway. So, why are you stopping us from getting our daily Greggs? It’s sick people’s responsibility to stay home so Greggs shouldn’t have to close and cause everyone else to suffer.”

Others, have been less affected. “I don’t care. It’s overrated and the queue’s always too long. Subway for the win,” added a County College first year.

Through all the devastation, though, one Lancaster student proved sympathetic: “I think it makes sense, it’s one of the most popular takeaways on campus (I’m pretty sure someone said on an open day that’s the most visited Gregg’s in the country) and we’ve all seen the queues stretching way out of the shop, so you never know how many people have been in there and will continue to go in there carrying whatever germs they have.

“As long as other takeaways are still open on campus, I think it’s a safe and sensible choice.”

Goodbye vegan sausage roll. May we see you again soon.