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6 December 2023

This England: Puffed-up pastry

This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare’s “Richard II”, refers to the whole of Britain – has run in the NS since 1934.

By New Statesman

The experience of eating a Greggs vegan sausage roll does not usually include a side of chicory and pear salad or duck-fat roast potatoes while sitting at a white-clothed table. But this is soon to become a reality as the British bakery chain opens its first fine-dining bistro.

For one month, Greggs is serving its staples with a “decadent” twist in its new “Parisian-inspired” restaurant in Newcastle’s Fenwick department store.

Greggs’ customer director Hannah Squirrell hailed the launch as a “watershed moment”.
The Times
(Kate McIntosh)

Every litter helps

A cat banned from Tesco has now got fans travelling hours to East Yorkshire to see him flouting the rules.

Shoppers were fuming after the ginger tom, nicknamed “Lincoln the Tesco cat”, was barred from the Hornsea branch over health-and-safety concerns. His MP, Graham Stuart, even launched a “Justice for Lincoln” petition, collecting 500 signatures.

Lincoln’s owner, Lorraine Clarke, 52, said: “We found out last week a lady had travelled from Nottingham to see Lincoln. He’s got fans worldwide.”
Daily Mirror
(Amanda Welles)

Fly Café Pacific

An aircraft has been pulled from the scrapheap and taken to a museum.

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The BAC 1-11, built in Christchurch, Dorset, in the 1960s, was to be scrapped before Southampton’s Solent Sky Museum acquired it.

It arrived at the aviation museum on Saturday morning after being pulled through the city’s streets. The museum hopes to turn it into a café.
BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight
(Steve Morley)

Each printed entry receives a £5 book token. Entries to comp@newstatesman.co.uk or on a postcard to This England.

[See also: This England: Cold press]

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This article appears in the 07 Dec 2023 issue of the New Statesman, Christmas Special