Cookie Policy

United Kingdom

Last updated January 2024

When you visit any website or mobile app, it most likely stores or retrieves information in your browser, mostly in the form of ‘cookies’. This information could be about you, or your device and is mostly used to make sure you can use that site or app as you would expect to. The information doesn’t always directly identify you, but can be used to give you a more personalised experience based on the information that is stored. Whether you choose to allow these cookies to be stored is up to you - and you can choose which types of cookies you would like us to store.

Our Cookie Policy explains the different types of cookies we use and – with your permission – how they are used. More information on how we treat and use your personal information is all explained in our Privacy Policy

We’ll update our Cookie Policy from time to time. This might be for a number of reasons, such as to keep it in line with the law or to outline a change in our business practices and the way we use cookies.

1. What are cookies? 

Cookies are very small text files or pieces of code, which often include an anonymous unique identifier. When you visit a website, that website sends information to your computer or mobile device and creates a text file that is then stored on your computer or mobile device. Information gathered through cookies may include the date and time you visit a site or use an app and show how you access and use that site or app. Primarily this is to ensure we can make improvements to your experience and optimise the content we serve, both on our digital platforms and through advertising on other platforms. Similar to cookies are technologies known as “web beacons”, “pixels” or “tags”. These technologies do a similar job to cookies, allowing us to count page views and understand how you interact with and respond to certain content so we can optimise and personalise what you see.

We also track some of your activity on our App through 3rd party SDKs (Software Development Kits). SDKs are blocks of code provided by partners that are embedded in our app. As with cookies, SDKs help us understand how you interact with our app and collect certain information about the device and network you use to access our applications. 

Throughout the rest of this policy, we refer to cookies and the other technologies described above as “cookies”. We also refer to greggs.co.uk as our "Site".

We use “first party cookies” and “third party cookies”. First party cookies are cookies placed by us. Third party cookies are cookies placed by others. Information collected by third party cookies will be shared with the relevant third party. Please refer to the relevant third party’s privacy notice for more details about the information they collect and how they use it.

With the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), tracking cookies may only be set once the user has given their consent to it.

2. What do Greggs use cookies for? 

We ultimately use cookies to provide you with the best experience and service possible, for example we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following reasons:

• To help you in the navigation of our digital platforms;

• To make it easy to login, and for you to provide feedback;

• To personalise and optimise the content we serve to you;

• To analyse your use of our products, services or applications so we can continually improve them;

• And to make sure our promotional and marketing efforts are always relevant and timely. (This includes behavioural advertising on other sites and platforms.)

Please note that our Site or App may link to third party websites which are not operated by us. Where you follow links from our Site or App to the website or digital property of a third party, that website or digital property may place different cookies on your device. You should check the relevant privacy notice and/or cookie notice for more information about how that third party uses cookies.

You should be aware that applications you use to access our Site or App, such as your web browser or operating system, may also place cookies on your device when visiting our Site, or other websites. An example of this would be where you sign in to Google Chrome using a Google Account (see Section 7 below). We have no control over these third party cookies, so you will need to manage these cookies in the settings of the relevant applications.

For more general information on cookies and how they work, please visit All About Cookies.

3. How long do cookies last?

The lifespan of a cookie depends on its purpose and how you interact with it:

Session Cookies are temporary cookies that are placed on your device during your browsing session and then automatically erased when you close your browser.

Persistent Cookies are designed to last for a pre-defined period of time, which varies depending on the nature of the cookie. Persistent cookies stay in your browser until they reach their individual expiry date or you manually delete them (see Section 6 below).

4. Which cookies are used on our Site and App?

To ensure we are compliant with legislation, we need to your permission to use your data for certain activities. Rather than gaining permission on 100+ separate technologies individually, we’ve grouped these into types of activity – from this list, you can choose which cookies you would, or wouldn’t, like us to hold. There are five types of permissions, each with varying legal requirements, relating to the cookie types we use:

Essential Cookies/Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies allow our Site and App to work as it has been designed to. These include cookies such as login cookies and shopping basket cookies. (We do not need your permission to use these types of cookie.)

Functional Cookies

These cookies recognise you when you return to the Site or App, remember your preferences and provide enhanced and more personalised features.

Performance Cookies

Performance cookies, along with other information, allow us to calculate the aggregate number of people using our digital products and which features are the most popular. This information is generally used to improve the website and the way visitors are able to move around it.

Social Media Cookies

These cookies are used to personalise your interaction with social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. These cookies identify users of those social media sites when they view social media content on our Site or App. They also allow you to quickly share content across social media, through the use of simple “sharing” buttons.

Targeting Cookies

Targeting cookies (also known as advertising cookies) help us to deliver adverts and offers when you visit other websites, such as news websites. This is known as “retargeting”. This technique helps to ensure that the ads you receive are more relevant to you and your interests. These cookies help to measure the effectiveness of an ad (for example, by reporting whether you have clicked on it) and can also limit the number of times that you see an ad (for example, if you see it twice but do not click on it, you may not see it again). These cookies are placed on your device by advertising networks that we and other advertisers work with to deliver ads. They remember what sites you visit and this information is shared with other ad networks to show you relevant ads.

To see which individual cookies we use on our Site, and the purposes for which they are used, please open our 'Cookie Settings' with the link found in the footer of any page. Here you can also review and manage your cookie consent preferences whenever you wish.

5. Is consent needed to use cookies?

Essential/Strictly Necessary Cookies – We do not need your consent to store and access essential cookies on your device, although you can still block or delete them (see Section 6 below).

Other (“non-essential”) Cookies – We may only store and access non-essential cookies on your device with your permission. You are not obliged to give consent to our use of non-essential cookies. If you do give your consent and then change your mind, you can still delete any cookies that have already been placed (see Section 6 below).

6. How do I refuse, block or delete cookies?

There are various ways that you can manage your cookie preferences but to use some parts of our Site or App you will need to allow certain essential or functional cookies. If you block or subsequently delete those cookies, some aspects of our Site or App may not work properly and you may not be able to access all or part of our Site or App.

Your options for managing your cookie preferences are set out below:

Through the Cookie Settings on our website and App

When you access our Site and some sections of our App, we will ask you to provide consent for our use of non-essential cookies. We may repeat this request on subsequent visits to our Site, for example if you delete cookies from your browser or we need to request new consents from you.

When we seek your consent, you will either be able to provide consent for all cookies that we would like to use, or you can tailor your cookie preferences (provide consent for some but not all non-essential cookies) using our Cookie Settings.

You can also change your preferences and/or withdraw your consent at any time by visiting our Cookie Settings. However, please be aware that withdrawing your consent does not remove the cookie from your device and, in the case of Social Media Cookies and Targeting Cookies (see Section 4 above), the cookie may still be used by third parties to show you personalised content and/or advertisements. To delete the cookie from your device and prevent the data from the cookie being used in this way, please see Using your browser settings or other tools below.

Where cookies are essential to the operation of our Site, we can use these without your consent.

Using your browser settings or other tools

You can block the use of cookies generally (not just in respect of our Site) by activating the relevant settings in your browser. For more information on cookie management and blocking or deleting cookies for a wide variety of browsers, visit All About Cookies.

Some cookies are dropped by third parties who operate the browser or application through which you access the Site (such as Google Chrome – see Section 7 below). We do not have control of this and you will need to manage those cookie settings through the relevant third party application.

If you do not want to be tracked by Google Analytics, you can install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on (but this will only work on certain browsers). For further information on Google Analytics and its use of cookies, please consult the Google Analytics cookie policy.

7. What about Google Chrome cookies? 

Separately to our use of Google Analytics cookies, when you access the Site or some elements of our App via Google applications such as Google Chrome, Google may collect user information for the purpose of Google serving personalised advertising across your devices. Google is able to place these advertising cookies on the devices used by visitors to the Site because we use Google services to run the Site. However these cookies are dropped for Google’s own purposes and as such we do not have any control over how or when they are dropped. You will need to opt out of receiving these cookies via your Google settings. 

For further information about these cookies please see: Google Policies. Please note that other browsers may use similar tools.

How to get more help?

If you have any more questions regarding this Cookie Policy please Contact Us via our website.

By post for the attention of the Customer Care Team, Greggs plc, Greggs House, Quorum Business Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE12 8BU;

By telephone on 0808 1473447.