Greggs

A gluten free person reviewing a bakery is like a polar bear reviewing The Sahara Desert — They are both very rare things to see and in my case, I can not review the main offering (the food) so these unusual combinations are similar in a way.
This branch of Greggs has been in Middleton for quite a while now, and is located in the Shopping Centre, this branch seems to do well and has recently been refurbished with nice seating and they always seems to be queuing, and it is often out of the door.
Greggs did have 2 branches in Middleton but now this is the only one, as the other one on Wood Street didn’t seem to do so well, and they didn’t really need two branches in such a small space of a small town anyway.
This store does stock a good range of cakes, pasties and sandwiches, but of course due to cross-​contamination issues none of them are gluten free.
The staff here don’t seem too helpful or friendly, and they often seem quite rushed, which is a shame really as it could really help the business to have great staff, as they even seem rush, when they are simply quieter than usual.
They do sell a small range of drinks here, but most of them are not too great, I did try a juice which I found to be a little watery and not very nice, some sort of Berry flavour and in all honestly the drinks are slightly overpriced and it is not the place just to go in for a drink, especially with various retailers such as nearby Wilko, WHsmith and Middleton News offering better options in the Middleton SC
The hot drinks from here are nothing special too, I did get an Americano coffee from here, a few months ago (I still feel it is worth commenting on) and it wasn’t of the best qualities, indeed, and although the coffees are quite cheap, I can’t see them selling many of them now Costa are opened, especially considering the quality served here out of the standard coffee machine, that many «average», «unprofessional» cafes have. I also think they stopped one of the best things about them as well — The stamps that means you get one free for every 9 drinks or so, which is a shame too.
I can’t be too harsh on this store as I know the food is popular and it is one of the nicer branches, but still the drinks here are horrid and the staff are quite poor really so I feel I have to give 2 stars and even that is being a little generous, and this rating may have to be revised in the near future.