Greggs fights for right to sell late-night sausage rolls at London flagship

The feud between the bakery chain and the council is heating up.

Greggs is preparing to fight for a Londoner’s right to have a sausage roll or a bacon bap at 2am.

The bakery chain opened its ‘Mega Greggs’ store in Leicester Square last July.

But council officials refused to grant the food giant an overnight license to keep the flagship store’s doors open 24 hours.

They claimed to do so would turn Greggs into a ‘hotspot for late-night disturbances and antisocial behaviour’.

The Metropolitan Police said: ‘It is our belief that if granted, the application could undermine the licensing objectives in relation to the prevention of crime and disorder.’

But now the row is set to be reheated in Westminster magistrates, with a three-day court hearing scheduled from May 16.

Greggs is currently locked into a ‘mediation phase’ with Westminster Council, the Evening Standard reported.

The company is understood to want its London outlet to stay open from 11pm so it can compete with its competitors, such as fast-food restaurant McDonald’s.

Leicester Square, with the station of the same name being on the Night Tube, is known for its late-night vibrancy that kicks off at 11pm.

In the heart of the West End, the square is full of cinemas, fast-food chains, hotels and late-night pubs, bars and nightclubs.

But it’s the drunken boozers spilling out of the pubs and flocking to fast-food restaurants in the area that give the force a headache.

‘The likely effect’ of Greggs being open for 24 hours would be ‘an increase in crime and disorder in the area and an increased demand on police resources which are already stretched’, the Met claimed.

The lack of seating at the food-on-the-go retailer would only add to this, the Met argued.

With its late-night trading application rejected, the Leicester Square branch opens at 7am and shutters at 11pm.

Greggs could actually stay open into the early hours – but there’d be a catch.

The bulk of Greggs’ baked goods – think sausage rolls and steak bakes – are made elsewhere at industrial bakeries and dished out to stores before being reheated.

Shops don’t need a license to sell goods like this as they aren’t kept hot in the store.

But Greggs needs special permission from the local authority to sell cooked products such as bacon baps and potato wedges as well as hot drinks like tea and coffee late at night.

So not having a portion of its menu available in the early hours would leave customers ‘confused’, the pastry company said, and could lead to trouble.

Greggs offered to hire security guards complete with body cameras to patrol the Leicester Square shop but the council still tore the application form in two.

Westminster City Council said its licensing committee ‘refused to grant the application on policy grounds’ because Greggs ‘failed to demonstrate exceptional reasons as to why the application would not have a negative impact on the West End’.

‘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,’ the council added.

The Environmental Health and three Westminster councillors all spoke out against the plans.

Westminster City Council and Greggs have been approached for comment.

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