Washing down the pints with

9:17am Monday 9th April 2007

GREGGS the bakers has plans to open until the early hours - taking on other fast food favourites.

The North-East firm hopes to tempt people coming out of pubs and clubs with its traditional range of savoury snacks, along with a selection of baked goods.

Graham Randell, managing director of Greggs North-East, said: "We are talking about doing it and we could be open late night by this summer in Newcastle.

"There is a market there, but it is a different customer base than normal and we would probably have a different set of staff.

"A different customer would mean the products they want could be different, but I don't want to talk about that at this stage.

"But we won't be doing a Greggs kebab."

The bakery already has two stores open late - Greggs in the MetroCentre stays open until 9pm, while the store at Newcastle Airport is open until 10pm.

But the latest plans could see high street stores open until the early hours.

There will be a trial run at a Sunderland shop before a decision is made about Newcastle.

Greggs was founded on Tyneside in the 1930s as a family bakers. When the business expanded in the North-East, all the shops were supplied from a single bakery in Gosforth.

Today it is one of Britain's biggest retailers, with more than 1,000 stores nationwide.

Editor's Choice