One is a much-loved bakery chain specialising in sausage rolls, the other is a sandwich shop where Proscuitto on artisan bread is among the most popular choices.
But the menus at Greggs and Pret A Manger don't just cater to different lunchtime tastes, they may also reveal the dividing line between the North and South of England.
Researchers at Sheffield Hallam University used machine learning and AI to examine all 2,500 outlets run by the two companies to find which areas in the country have more Greggs and the places where Prets are more prevalent.
And their findings appear to have come up with a new way of determining the North / South divide. The study showed that nearly all areas in the North have more outlets of Greggs, which is based in Newcastle.
In contrast, areas in the south-east tend to have more Pret A Manger branches.
The research shows that the great divide is a diagonal line that starts just north of Norwich and goes down to the southern coast of England to the east of Bournemouth. The line passes the M1 motorway close to the Watford Gap services, often touted as the place where the North-South divide occurs.
Cornwall is the outlier in the study. While it is the southern-most county in England on the map, it is actually placed in the North in the Greggs vs Pret study. Researchers decided to run a follow-up study into branches of Morrisons and Waitrose, which did move Cornwall and the South West into the South, with the dividing line going above Bristol.
The report authors said: “This light-hearted study is designed to highlight real and important cultural and socio-economic differences between the North and the South of England, and demonstrate that these are in some ways reflected by consumer habits.
"We attempted to align our Greggs-Pret lines with gross domestic household income with some success. However, this is more likely a reflection of the London-centricity of both England’s wealth and its Pret-a-Manger shops. Additionally, this Greggs-Pret comparison determined that Cornwall – even including the most southern point in England – is actually northern.
“For these reasons, the Greggs-Pret index appears to have significant limitations. As a result, we broadened the analyses to include the distribution of Morrisons and Waitrose stores and extracted alternative dividing lines.”
Greggs was founded in Newcastle in 1939 and opened its first shop on Gosforth High Street in 1951. The chain has been growing significantly in recent decades and now has more than 2,300 shops around the UK. Though its low prices meant that it tended historically to avoid high-cost areas such as central London, it has taken advantage of lower rents since the pandemic to expand its offering in the capital.
The Sheffield authors also say that Greggs’ increasing popularity in the South since the launch of the vegan sausage roll in 2019 means the brand is no longer quite the bastion of northern-ness it once was. A year earlier the bakery had pranked customers at a London food festival by posing as ‘Gregory and Gregory’ and selling its savoury treats as ‘artisan’ products.
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