greggs

Once more carrying on the theme of late night Skype chats about what is to be expected of Newcastle, it wasn’t so surprising that Greggs eventually came up in conversation.

For the uninitiated, wiki it and you get this info:

Greggs Plc is the largest specialist retail bakery chain in the United Kingdom. It is based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England and is quoted on the London Stock Exchange.

Put simply it sells all things pastry and the odd bit of bread too.

Everyone here in the North East takes Greggs for granted. It’s always been around. It’s where your first pasty came from and it’s never let you down when you’ve wanted some cheap stodge ever since.

But at some point it seemed to explode. Suddenly it wasn’t just in Newcastle but right across the UK. Also the dirty blue turquoise branding we had grown up with was replaced by a new swish orange and blue look.

This came with a Soup Nazi style queuing system that regularly proves its worth during hours of peak pie demand.

But anyway, in order to forward info to my Skype chatting friend, I Googled Greggs and the wiki explanation above came up. I kept on reading and noticed this nugget of information:

Actress and model Milla Jovovich is a well-known fan of the store and its pasties, and has gone on record to say she would be willing to become the “face of Greggs” in a new marketing campaign if the firm approached her, though no such approach has yet been made.

Now, as you know, I have been out of town a while so this is probably common knowledge I missed but…WOW.

Anyway, a little more searching and you find out who got her hooked:

Hollywood actress Milla Jovovich was introduced to the wonders of a Greggs bridie by her Geordie boyfriend, film director Paul Anderson. The star of the movie Resident Evil said: “I was told I hadn’t lived till I’d tried a Greggs pasty. I’ve just fallen in love with them.”

Elsewhere on the net there is talk of pie-loving-Milla becoming the official Greggs pastry-pusher but it appears never to have happened although she actually seems to be touting for the job. This is from Aussie paper, The Age:

Not for the first time, Milla Jovovich is dreamily endorsing the pleasures of stodgy British fast food. Recalling regular visits to the UK with her boyfriend, Geordie fi lm director Paul Anderson, the preternaturally beautiful Ukranian actress and model swoons about the appeal of a Greggs cheese-and-onion pasty.

“Whenever I’m there, the first thing I do is buy one. Oh my God, I love them. I have often said I would be the face of Greggs,” she says, “but they haven’t approached me yet.” Note to the pasty promotions staff: sort yourselves out. Who wouldn’t love to see the exotic Jovovich with her bankable mouth wrapped round a steaming pasty?

Well for someone who otherwise has never quite understood the concept of food porn there is an image that does it for me entirely. But the journo is right, Greggs haven’t bitten. One quick look at the website sees it sadly Jovovich-free.

Personally I relish the opportunity to blame my descent into complete obesity on Miss Mila and her persuasive pie pedaling.

For the record the pic above is from flickerererer Southern_Comfort who is not alone as a serial Greggs snapper. He’s part of Greggs Pool that has 37 members including blue me who made this work of genius.

Elsewhere a quick trawl on Facebook finds the Greggs Appreciation Society

Greggs, we salute you.