Greggs will close all its 2,050 bakeries tonight as shoppers abandon the high street and operators say it is impossible to ensure social distancing at takeaway operations. The bakery chain 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.”The 80-year-old company, which employs 25,000 people, said that it would continue to support staff with “full contract hours for as long as we are able, although we will need to keep this under review”. Greggs said that it would seek support from the government’s coronavirus job retention scheme, which offers to pay a grant

Source: The Times March 23, 2020 20:26 UTC