Economic adviser criticises 'narrow-minded' Met for fearing a 24-hour Greggs will worsen crime
19 April 2023, 20:57
Festival founder argues the Met is "narrow-minded" for fearing a 24-hour Greggs will worsen crime
Club entrepreneur and economic adviser Sacha Lord argues against the Met's decision to revoke bakery giant Greggs' late-night license.
As Greggs prepares to launch a legal battle over the late-night sausage roll ban, Sacha Lord, co-founder of Parklife festival, told Tom Swarbrick the Met are being "quite narrow-minded" by requesting for a recall on the bakery's late-night license.
The popular bakery was told it could not sell hot food 24 hours a day as police feared an all-day Greggs could lead to crime and disorder.
The music entrepreneur said: "Hospitality is absolutely on its knees, what we need to be doing is having a common sense approach... I can't understand the difference between a cold sausage roll and a hot sausage roll, it's a curve ball that none of us in the industry saw coming."
Mr Lord continued: "Looking back to when all-night clubs had a 2:00 am license, the reason why they extended it to 4:00-6:00 am was because if everybody leaves at a certain time that is when there are pinch points... I would strongly argue lengthening the time of Greggs' [opening hours], works against crime and disorder."
He went on to say: "I think it's quite narrow-minded of the Met when they think about people leaving pubs or clubs and trying to get some hot food. Well, what about the people that work at night?
"You've got all the customers leaving, you've got the staff who've worked all night, who will probably want something to eat.
"A third of the people that work in the night-time economy in London and in Greater Manchester as well actually work within the NHS and then you've got the shift pattern workers as well who work odd hours.
The entrepreneur argued: "Why is it right that people that work 9-5 can have hot food, but people that work what some would say anti-social hours they've not got that. So there's a much bigger picture to this."
READ MORE: 11 new Greggs stores will open from May - see the full list of locations
