The Greggs Westminster Council sausage roll row explained

The bakery chain Greggs is set for a courtroom showdown with Westminster Council after its request to open its Leicester Square branch 24 hours a day was denied.

Greggs was denied permission to serve hot food after 11pm by the council last year, saying that the company had “failed to demonstrate” how the store “would not have a negative impact on the West End”. The Metropolitan Police also complained about the application, claiming it could lead to an increase in “crime and disorder” in the area.

Greggs is currently “locked in ‘mediation talks’ with Westminster Council” ahead of the scheduled court dates on 16, 17 and 18 May, The Evening Standard said.

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The majority of food that Greggs sells is “made at industrial bakeries and then re-heated” and does not require a licence to sell as “they are not kept hot in store”, the paper said. Other goods such as “bacon baps, sausage breakfast rolls and potato wedges, as well as tea and coffee” would require a special licence to be sold between 11pm and 5am.

Greggs said it would use “security guards wearing body cameras to ensure the safety of customers” and that its extended hours would “be more likely to attract emergency service and shift workers than anti-social groups”, said The Telegraph, however its application was still refused.

The company also said the plans were “in line with what local peers and restaurants are doing”, pointing to “restaurants down the road that are open until 3am serving their customers hot food at all hours”.

The flagship Greggs store, in the heart of the West End, is among the “cinemas, fast-food chains, hotels and late-night pubs, bars and nightclubs” in the area, said Metro. However, it’s the “drunken boozers” that flock to the late-night food outlets that “give the force a headache”, the paper added. The “lack of seating at the food-on-the-go retailer” would also exacerbate anti-social behaviour, the Met said.