Last week, officers from Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon (ABC) Borough Council’s planning department gave the green light to the fast food outlet’s proposal to open the restaurant at Craigavon’s Marlborough Retail Park.

However, no formal decision notice has been issued yet and the planning application is listed as “under consideration” on the NI Planning Portal.

Greggs has almost 2,500 outlets across the UK and is famous for its sausage rolls. It currently has 17 stores in Northern Ireland.

The Newcastle upon Tyne-based chain also offers coffee, pasties, freshly made sandwiches and much more.

According to the planning application for the drive-thru in Craigavon, which was submitted in January, it will be located next to existing Burger King and will have an outdoor seating area.

According to supporting statements submitted on behalf of Turkington Properties, the size of the unit will be around 185 sq m.

The Greggs store will have 31 seats inside and 29 car parking spaces, including two disabled spots.

The supporting statement added that the Craigavon retail park has undergone “significant redevelopment and investment” in recent years.

Marlborough Retail Park also has a drive-thru Starbucks store, M&S Simply Food, Home Bargains, O’Neill’s and Airtastic. Rushmere Shopping Centre, Tesco Extra and Halfords are all located next to the site.

Plans were also approved last year to build two new units and a gym at the retail park.

Last year, Greggs unveiled expansion plans, which included trialling a new 24-hour drive-thru, following a record high for sales.

At the time the chain did not confirm if its expansion plans would extend to Northern Ireland.

Last year it revealed that total sales hit a record high of £1.5bn in 2022, up by nearly a quarter on the previous year.

In a post on social media, the trade group said it had been contacted by an unnamed business that shared an encounter where three men ran up a large bill and later claimed they didn’t have cash or cards to settle the bill, instead asking if they could pay via bank transfer.

“One of the party showed the staff a text message allegedly from his bank, confirming that the funds had been transferred to the restaurant. He said that it could take an hour or more for the transfer to show in the recipient’s account, so the party would wait and have more drinks,” read the post from Hospitality Ulster.

“The restaurant owners grew suspicious and informed the party that they had contacted the PSNI, at which point they left the establishment. Police attended the restaurant and informed ownership that they were aware of this scam.

“Please remain vigilant to situations like this, or similar, where you are unable to confirm that payment has been made.”

The warning of the scam comes at a particularly difficult time for hospitality venues. In February, it was revealed a quarter of hospitality businesses have no cash reserves and a further 29% have less than three month’s worth, according to a survey covering the whole of the UK.

The joint survey by the British Beer and Pub Association, British Institute of Innkeeping, UKHospitality alongside Hospitality Ulster showed the overwhelming majority of businesses have seen costs rise across the board, and are struggling with additional pressures.