Greggs is the bakery that’s adored across the nation – but one common grumble is that sometimes the food just isn’t served as warm as we’d all like.
It’s a uniquely soul-crushing experience to be eyeing up that perfect golden glossy pastry, all in neat rows, dreaming of the moment you sink your teeth through its flaky layers into the meaty middle, only to bite into a cold, limp, claggy sausage roll.
And it’s not a one-off – it’s pretty normal to be handed a lukewarm baked good in Greggs.
On Twitter, one person said: “The day I go to Greggs and don’t get given a cold steak bake will be the best day of my life”
Someone else said: “@GreggsOfficial is so sh*t. Why do we keep this cold pasty flogging business open? Never have I ever, left greggs and thought ‘wow what a nice hot pasty’.”
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Sausage rolls aren’t kept warm at Greggs.
But it turns out there is a perfectly good reason that Greggs doesn’t keep its food piping hot for its customers – and it’s a pretty smart business move.
The bakery giant chooses not to heat its food because of a tax loophole.
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In the UK, businesses are charged VAT on hot food to take away, but they aren’t charged it on cold food to take away.
John Thomson, who narrated the documentary, said: “They’re not being lazy, they’re being clever.”
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James Oldfield, a former store manager, revealed: “Most places will be keeping their product warm. The reason Greggs can have such reasonable prices is because they don’t have to charge VAT because they’re not keeping them warm, just baking them fresh.”
Instead of keeping their food heated, Greggs teams choose to bake their pastries (which are delivered frozen) in small batches, little and often, in the hopes that customers always get a freshly-baked lunch.
Greggs has confirmed a way to get yourself a hot sausage roll though – you just have to ask the question.
They said on Twitter: “We don’t serve our Bakes as hot as we’d need to charge VAT if we did.
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“You can always ask our Shop Team what’s fresh from the oven.”
Featured image: Greggs
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Stockport County’s Christmas dinner in a cup returns for 2025 as part of new festive food range
Danny Jones
We can’t believe it’s rolled around again already, but with the festive period well underway and the big day just a few weeks away, Stockport County have brought back their viral ‘Xmas dinner in a cup’for 2025.
Better still, the County Courtyard has seen some new Christmas specials added to its food menu, too.
The local football club are absolutely flying in League One at the moment, having spent plenty of time at the top of the table already and still well and truly contesting those promotion/play-off spots.
If you’re a Stopfordian, that’s plenty of cause for celebration right there, but with the Christmas dinner in a cup also up for grabs once more, the holiday season literally couldn’t taste any better right now.
For those who’ve never seen it before, it’s exactly what it says on the tin – well, cup: a little Sunday dinner in a County-branded takeaway coffee cup, complete with a healthy pour of gravy and pretty much all the trimmings you could hope for.
Yes, including sprouts, because all of you who still don’t touch them need to grow up already.
Currently priced at just £4.50, not only does it contain virtually all the major food groups (barring the customary matchday pints, of course), it might just be one of the healthiest and best value-for-money bits of footy scran around – certainly in Greater Manchester, anyway.
But, as mentioned, that’s not all this year; Stockport are also serving up the new festive hot dog and even a ‘leftover Christmas curry’ in a bowl, which might even be more warming on a cold night at Edgeley Park than the Xmas dinner in a cup or clinging onto a flask of Bovril.
Anyone else craving that curry with a cheeky bit of bubble and squeak now?
It’s also worth noting that you’ll only be able to get one of those on Boxing Day, by the way, when the Hatters host Lincoln City in the league.
As for the rest of it, County fans can get their hands on this seasonal scran for the first time this year at the weekend when Dave Challinor’s side take on Barnsley at 12:30pm, and two of the three specials will then be served at home every game over the holiday period.
Speaking of random Christmas food creations, there’s another limited-time-only and potentially divisive example that we’ll also be sampling this December…
Aldi has launched the world’s first lickable pigs in blankets wrapping paper… for some reason
Emily Sergeant
Aldi has launched its latest Christmas creation, and this one’s arguably wackier than anything else it’s brought out before.
There’s absolutely no denying that pigs in blankets are a staple of festive feasting, with millions of the little delicacies consumed throughout the UK each Christmas, but have you ever wished you could turn the taste of those pigs in blankets into a lickable wrapping paper to wrap all this year’s gifts in? Yeah probably not… Aldi‘s made it though.
It’s anticipated that more than 561 million pigs in blankets are going to be eaten over the festive period, new research has found, which is an average of 10 per person.
But if you just can’t bare to leave the taste of pigs in blankets behind, Aldi’s new wrapping paper is set to give shoppers a fun and tasty twist when it comes to gift-giving.
The limited-edition wrapping paper is inspired by Aldi’s very-own range of pigs in blankets, and is described as capturing the smoky, savoury flavour and smell of the festive treat, with stickers that peel back to reveal a truly unique ‘lickable’ experience.
Aldi has launched the world’s first lickable pigs in blankets wrapping paper / Credit: Simon Jacobs/PA Wire (via Aldi UK)
Not only does the novelty wrapping paper taste and smells like pigs in blankets, it also looks the part on presents too with its pastel pink design, festive holly, and snowflake patterns.
“Pigs in Blankets are a highlight of the festive season… so we wanted to create something special to celebrate the Christmas classic,” commented Julie Ashfield, who is the Chief Commercial Officer at Aldi UK, as the new creation launches.
“This unique, lickable wrapping paper is the perfect way to spread extra joy on Christmas Day.”
Want to get your hands on it then? Unfortunately, it won’t be as simple as popping to your nearest Aldi store and picking up a roll, as with a creation as unique as this, there’s only going to be limited stock and a special shopper competition to win it.
To be in with a chance of winning, you simply need to email [email protected] with your full name before the deadline at 11:59pm on 1 December.
Daisy Jackson -
15th April 2022 
