Whether it's for breakfast or lunch, vegan or meat-filled, there's no denying the goodness of a Greggs sausage roll.
The warm, flaky pastries never fail to satisfy a craving, and as a result many customers regularly turn to the bakery when they start to feel peckish.
Perhaps none quite so often, though, as bartender Megan Topping. The 27-year-old has described herself as 'completely and utterly Greggs mad', and says she visits the bakery 'almost every day and [has] done for years'.
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In late 2019, Topping came up with the idea to tour the UK in a bid to visit every single one of its 2,078 Greggs. She started to put her plan into action during the first coronavirus lockdown, when she had 'all the time in the world' to figure out exactly how she'd start racking up the rolls.
Megan began saving up for a £1,000 Hyundai i10 2011 car, which she has dubbed the 'Greggsmobile', and booked time off work to help free up her time for her countrywide tour of Greggs, where she says she spends £300 a month. She has so far visited every Greggs bakery in Greater Manchester, and plans to travel all the way to Scotland to complete her mission.
"I couldn’t be more excited. I work a lot and I wanted to do something fun with my life, so I thought, “Sod it, why not?” I think it will take a few years at least, but I’m game," Megan said.
The 27-year-old had her first sausage roll when she was 10 years old, and 17 years on she said she would 'like to thank' the Greggs family, saying the bakes have 'been such a big part' of her life.
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Megan kicks off each day with a Greggs breakfast and will frequently return for lunch and dinner, too. She ordered Greggs to her house when she had coronavirus, and even on one occasion paid £20 for a taxi to make the 15-mile journey from Middleton to Stalybridge just for a sausage roll.
"The sausage roll is the best thing Greggs does, hands down. I love it fresh out of the oven. I’ve been eating sausage rolls since 2005. I have eaten around 10,000 in total – if not more," Megan said.
Though not everyone may understand her passion for the baked goods, and perhaps even think she is 'bonkers', the superfan said: "Just remember, I will be enjoying every single Greggs sausage roll I eat. So, maybe it’s not so mad after all!"
Megan created a spreadsheet to keep track of her progress and has expressed excitement to kick off her road trip to bakeries further afield, saying she 'will be able to see so much of the UK' she'd never have seen otherwise.
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"Visiting Greggs all over Great Britain and eating my favourite sausage rolls in every bakery will be the most fun thing I’ve ever done and if it gives someone else a laugh along the way, then that’s great. I never expected to be doing something like this, but here we are – it’s not half baked at all!"
Megan may have a long way to go, but with 10,000 pastries already under her belt it's fair to say she's on a roll.
Topics: Food And Drink, UK News, Greggs
Emily Brown