MEGA GREGGS: A GIANT BITE OUT OF SOUTHEND’S HIGH STREET BY ENZO HARRISON

January 23, 2026

Four. It’s not a big number is it? Well it’s all perspective. Four quid? You can't buy a lot with that. Four minutes? Not very long. Four Greggs locations in one high-street? That’s a lot.

You’ve all heard; a new Mega-Greggs is coming to Southend High street, and it will be open until 11pm. Reader, what does this mean? I’ll tell you what it means, we all love salty, fatty food. Of course we do, it’s hardwired into us. So it should be no surprise that our high-street is now full of four Greggs, two McDonald’s, a Wendy's, a KFC and a myriad other fast food spots. Our base desires are being hijacked by billion-dollar companies who prey on our need to eat food that’s bad for us. And hey, it’s our fault, if these places weren't profitable they wouldn’t keep popping up.

We just can’t help ourselves.

But we have plans for this sort of thing. It’s called democracy. Councils have been afforded new powers to prevent certain kinds of shops from opening up in their high-streets.

There is a specific category called Sui Generis (Latin for "of its own kind"). Shops in this category always require planning permission to open in a new unit. These are often the "undesirable" shops communities want to restrict:

Betting Shops and Payday Loan stores

Hot Food Takeaways (to prevent "takeaway clusters")

Pubs and Nightclubs

Casinos

If a business wants to open one of these, the council can deny the application based on local policy, such as "oversaturation" or proximity to schools. Keyword here - oversaturation. There’s four of these shops. Let alone all the other similar shops in the high-street.

I’ve not even touched on the fact that there will be security risks for the staff working there that late into the evening or the fact independent businesses are continually muscled out of Southend.

Perhaps the legislation is difficult to enact, perhaps there isn't the will from the council, maybe the council are pleased there’s a Mega-Greggs opening.

I say the custodians of our city need to take greater care in what and cannot come to pass in our high-streets. I hope, come May the 7th, the next wave of councillors consider this a priority.