Greggs will reopen some branches to test whether they can operate their 2,050 shops nationwide

Greggs is set to reopen a some of its branches to test if it can operate all 2,050 of its stores across the country without breaking social distancing rules.

The high street bakery closed temporarily last month to protect customers and staff after the Government ordered all non-essential shops to close. 

Food outlets were allowed to continue operating a temporary service but many, including Greggs, McDonald’s and Burger King opted to close their doors entirely. 

But a Greggs spokesman said on Sunday they are looking at ways to re-open.

‘We are planning to conduct a limited trial with volunteers to explore how we can reopen our shops with new measures in place that keep our colleagues and customers as safe as we can when we re-open at scale,’ they told The Sun. 

The hugely popular bakery chain is yet to outline finer details of the trials and has not said how many branches will be opened, or what service will be offered.

Greggs fans have still been able to pick up frozen versions of the outlet’s bestselling snacks but many will be happy to taste freshly baked products once again.  

The news comes after McDonald’s said they were in talks about opening its 1,249 restaurants across the UK, according to reports.

The burger chain could open for drive-thru and delivery orders as early as mid-May, the Irish Farmers Journal said. 

A spokesperson for McDonald’s said: ‘Of course we are thinking about re-opening and having those conversations – but it’s unclear when that will be.’

Last week, rival Burger King also opened a handful of stores for delivery only – two in Bristol, one in Coventry and one in Swindon. 

Pret-a-Manger has also reopened ten outlets and six Nando’s have also reopened – but only for frontline health workers. 

The restaurants will provide up to 1,700 free meals a day to NHS employees.

Sunday’s coronavirus figures showed that the death toll from the virus increased by 413, the lowest recorded this month. 

It means that the country passed the grim milestone of 20,000 deaths, with 20,732 in total.

Overall there have been more than 148,000 cases of the virus in the UK. 

But the risks posed by coronavirus did not stop hundreds of shoppers from flocking to DIY stores in areas including Swansea, York and Edinburgh. 

They were taking advantage of hot an dry conditions which has brought sunshine around the country this weekend, although wet weather is on the way.  

Some DIY shoppers pushed trolleys filled with rolls of carpet while others were seen lifting enormous products into their cars.

Many had to wait in enormous queues as B&Q enforced social distancing rules. 

Some wore masks and made sure they kept apart from others so as not to risk spreading the virus.