Staff at Gregg's in Hadleigh's High Street are among those their bosses plan to hold talks with in a bid to save jobs, once the furlough scheme ends.

The Newcastle-based bakery chain has revealed in a statement it had entered consultation with its 20,000 staff nationwide, a fortnight ago.

A Greggs statement read: "The outlook for trading remains uncertain, with rising Covid-19 infection rates leading to increasing risks of supply chain interruption and further restrictions on customer activities out of the home.

"In these challenging conditions our teams continue to work hard and have proven our ability to operate with social distancing and adapt to new digital channels.

"With the Job Retention Scheme planned to end in October we are taking steps to ensure that our employment costs reflect the estimated level of demand from November onwards.

"With business activity levels remaining below normal for the foreseeable future we must change the way we work to be as productive and flexible as we can in order to protect as many jobs as possible for the long term.

"We have completed a review of our activity and requirements in every part of the business and are now proposing a series of changes which are the subject of a collective consultation with union and employee representatives.

"Our aim is to minimise the risk of job losses by negotiating reduced hours in our shops and we will update on the outcome of the consultation when concluded."

The move comes after store colleagues were each awarded a £300 bonus in January, after an increase in sales due to its iconic vegan sausage rolls.

While the Hadleigh branch does not have any seating, August had been challenging month for Greggs as the closure of seated areas nationally meant it couldn't benefit from the Eat Out To Help Out scheme.

Greggs is now bringing back more of its product range – including a broader sandwich range and classic favourites such as Belgian buns – and 100 of its larger shops have now reopened their customer seating with social distancing in place.

In the 39 weeks to 26 September 2020 the company said it had opened 38 new shops and closed 49 shops, taking the total to 2,039 Greggs shops (1,720 company-managed shops and 319 franchised).

It has now restarted elements of its shop opening programme, and expects to open a net of 20 shops in 2020, mainly in sites with car access.