Greggs the bakery has made an extremely strong start to 2019, benefiting from the publicity generated by the release of the vegan sausage roll.

In the first seven weeks leading to 16th February, total sales were up by 14.1%.

Company managed shop like-for-likes climbed by 9.6% following good trading at the end of 2018.

The food-to-go retailer said that the launch of the vegan sausage roll in January, led to an increase in customer transactions, with the extra sales coming mainly from the vegan product and other sausage rolls and bakes.

Greggs currently operates 1,950 stores, and will release its full year results on 7Th March.