Greggs and Subway, who have stores in Whitehaven have been the latest national chains to announce they are closing their stores until further notice. Nandos, who’s nearest store is Carlisle have also announced they are closed. Greggs CEO Roger Whiteside said:
“We’ve been doing everything we can to keep our shops open and everyone safe but it has become clear that to help us all maintain social distance we need to go further and close all of our shops completely. So, we have made the difficult decision to close all of our shops on Tuesday 24th March.”
“First and foremost, thank you to our amazing colleagues for the hard work they have been putting in every day. They live and breathe the Greggs spirit, and we couldn’t have got through these challenging times without their unwavering positivity and cooperation. While we are closed, we will continue supporting our colleagues with full contract hours for as long as we are able although we will need to keep this under review as the situation develops”.
“Whilst our shops will be temporarily closed, our dedication to our communities won’t stop. We’ll continue to provide support to our local communities by distributing any remaining unsold food and offering support for those in hardship through the Greggs Foundation”.
Subway has also announced it will authorise all franchise owners to close their stores from 5PM today, Monday 23rd March.
Colin Hughes, Country Director at Subway for UK and Ireland said:
At Subway, we’ve been doing all we can to support the efforts to combat the COVID-19 outbreak, and I’d like to thank our loyal guests, Franchise Owners, their Sandwich Artists™ and all employees who have supported the brand through this unprecedented situation.
Today, we’re taking one more step, a step we believe is the right one.
We have taken the decision to authorise our Franchise Owners to close all their stores in the UK and Ireland, from 5pm today, Monday 23 March.
“Locally, over today and tomorrow, Franchise Owners will be using up their fresh ingredients to donate Subs to local community groups and emergency workers, wherever possible.”
Elsewhere many local businesses have also closed.