McDonald’s is celebrating its 50th birthday in the UK this year, with the first golden arches having appeared in the UK in Woolwich in 1974.
The fast food chain has been around much longer than that though, as the very first McDonald’s restaurant actually opened in San Bernardino, California in the US in 1940.
But it wasn’t until 1955 that the business started to become Maccies as we know it today.
However, it turns out there’s a surprising UK chain that’s been around even longer than McDonald’s has — we’re talking, of course, about everyone’s favourite sausage roll and steak bake spot.
Yep, that’s right, it’s Greggs!
When was Greggs founded?
by John Gregg, but back then there was no iconic square logo and he didn’t have shops on the high street selling doughnuts, or cheese and bean melts.
The business was much simpler — John and his wife worked as a team delivering baking goods, such as fresh eggs and yeast, to families in Newcastle on a bike.
It wasn’t until 1951 that the very first Greggs Bakery launched on Gosforth High Street, and it was known as Greggs of Gosforth. The shop sold fresh bread and other tasty treats.
John ran the shop until his death in 1964, when the business was taken over by his son Ian, who expanded the brand throughout the 70s, acquiring other bakeries around the country, before going public in 1984.
By 2000 Greggs had more than 1,000 sites across the UK after acquiring the Bakers Oven chain, but it wasn’t until 2008 that they properly rebranded to become the Greggs we all know and love today.
And they’ve only kept on growing and evolving ever since with more locations, a new offering including sandwiches, soups, and vegan sausage rolls, and even fashion collabs with Primark to celebrate the opening of their bakery within the giant Birmingham store.
The chain opened a record 220 new shops throughout 2023, and planned to open between 140 and 160 new shops this year. The current total is more than 2,450 and their goal is to reach 3,000.
As well as regular shops and cafes, the chain also has a number of outlet stores, where unsold day-old food from other Greggs sites, as well as production sites, is redistributed and sold at a lower price.
Locations for these include Newcastle, Cardiff, Glasgow, Southampton, London, and Sheffield.
Most recently Greggs has been causing a stir by teaming up with Fenwicks in Newcastle to launch what has been dubbed ‘Posh Greggs’.
In November 2023 they launched a ‘fine dining experience’ at the department store, and this year it’s a champagne bar where you can pair your pastries with £425 drinks.
There was also a 22 carat gold-plated Greggs jewellery collection launched for London Fashion Week 2024, which included sausage roll earrings, a Jammy Heart Necklace and a £96 charm bracelet hand-crafted by contemporary British artist Dion Kitson.
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