Greggs in Mere Street, Diss, set two possible dates to reopen

Bakery chain Greggs has announced that they will be reopening their stores, including the store on Mere Street in Diss, by mid summer, provided an initial trial period – reopening a small handful of stores in the UK – is successful.

The trial period will see 20 stores in Newcastle-upon-Tyne reopened on May 5, to test if the stores can operate whilst comforming to social distancing guidelines.

If the initial trial period is successful, another 700 stores will reopen on on June 8, followed by a complete reopening of every store on July 1.

It is not yet decided whether the store in Diss, which closed its doors last month, will be part of the initial 700 stores opening in June, or part of the wider reopening of all stores the following month.

In a letter sent out to staff, Greggs CEO, Roger Whiteside said: "This timing may change depending on future government announcements.

"Naturally we must be acutely aware that there remains a great deal of uncertainty in how our fight against this virus will develop, and should the situation worsen for any reason, we may be required to stop or delay the implementation of our plan.

"The key principle in the plan is that we must accept that when we open, we will not be able to operate normally and must have new social distancing and hygiene measures in place to continue to provide protection for our colleagues and our customers whilst the risk of infection is high."