Greggs has reversed plans to reopen some of its store to the public next week over fears the stores could attract too many people.

The bakery giant closed its stores when the coronavirus lockdown began but last week said it planned to trial a phased reopening of its stores, with 20 sites in and around Newcastle offering takeaway and delivery. It wanted to see if the sites could operate within current rules around social dis

Pret A Manger has opened sites for takeaway and delivery while chains including McDonald's and Burger King have opened for deliveries.

But after fears customers could visit the stores in large numbers, Greggs has changed its plans.

A company spokeswoman said: “Due to significant interest in our 20-shop trial, and the risk that excessive numbers of customers may plan to visit Greggs, we will now initially operate these trials behind closed doors in order to effectively test our new operational safety measures.

“We will continue to review this and will invite walk-in customers into our shops only when we can be confident of doing so in the controlled manner we intended.”