Coronavirus forces Greggs in Atherstone to shut on Tuesday as 'no guarantee of proper social distancing' while operating as takeaway

Atherstone will lose the services of iconic food shop Greggs to coronavirus from tomorrow night as the High Street shrinks in the face of the advancing pandemic.

Britain's largest bakery chain – with one of its 1,850 outlets in Long Street – has said it will close its entire store estate by the end of business on Tuesday.

Bosses said operating as a takeaway was not going far enough to ensure proper social distancing.

The company added its name to a growing list of companies voluntarily closing stores ahead of suggestions the Government may step up action and close all "non-essential" stores.

Fashion chain Next also said that it would close all 500 sites across the UK at 6pm on Monday and remain shut for the duration of the coronavirus outbreak.

It follows full closures by McDonald's, Primark, John Lewis and Nando's as social distancing measures come under scrutiny.

Others remain open, including B&Q, which has reported an increase in business, as families look to home improvements while in self-isolation.

Greggs, founded in 1951, said the decision to close was an attempt to protect staff from the spread of the virus, and avoid crowds gathering for takeaways.

The company said: "Given the current and likely impacts of coronavirus we are now planning for the closure of our shop estate by close of business on Tuesday, March 24 in order to protect our people and customers."

It added: "In addition to increased hygiene and separation measures we converted all of our shops to provide a solely take-away service accepting card payments only and have been advising all customers to follow social distancing guidelines while waiting to be served.

"It is now clear that to protect our people and customers we need to go further and temporarily close our shops completely."

Greggs also said a planned £40 million handout to shareholders and a share buying scheme have been shelved, adding "we intend to maintain employment of colleagues at full contract hours for as long as is practicable".

The moves by Next and Greggs follows other big moves from companies including McDonald's and Primark, which both announced full store closures over coronavirus.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced calls for tougher restrictions especially in London, such as only allowing food stores and pharmacies to remain open.

But thousands of outlets pre-empted any decision by voluntarily closing their doors.

Mr Johnson has delayed his normal 5pm press conference until 8.30pm tonight to announce new measures to slow the spread of Covid-19.

McDonald's announced that it will close every single one of its restaurants in the UK and Ireland from 7pm on Monday, following concerns about maintaining safe social distancing.

There are approximately 1,300 McDonald's restaurants in the UK and Ireland and the decision will affect 135,000 staff members.