Work ongoing at Bury St Edmunds Greggs, in Abbeygate Street, after ‘unexpected challenges’ discovered in roof structure

Specialist builders working to restore a historic town centre building have discovered ‘unexpected challenges’ during the final repairs.

Emmerson Critchley discovered that further repairs were needed to the roofs of the 17th century Greggs building, in Abbeygate Street, Bury St Edmunds, shortly before Christmas.

It means the work, which the company had expected to complete this month, will now finish around Easter time.

The specialist company began work on the store, dubbed by the national media as ‘Britain’s poshest Greggs’, in December 2023.

Greggs Bury St Edmunds made national headlines when campaigners, including the Bury Free Press, called for action as the facade began to rot, paint began to peel and gutters overflowed.

The town’s tour guides and civic society felt it had become an ‘embarrassment’.

Emmerson Critchley, which specialises in traditional building techniques for heritage and modern properties, had hoped to complete the work this month.

But the further work means the restoration won’t be complete until Easter.

Emmerson Marshall-Critchley, who runs the company, said: “Part and parcel of restoring a period building, you are going to uncover things that you just can’t see. You will uncover problems or challenges.

“We were asked to remove another elevation of cement render on the back roofs.

“When we removed this, we found that all of the main structural components, a corner post, two tie beam and a wall plate, had failed and a box gutter had also dropped, and wasn’t supported at all.

“So what was happening is that the centre of the building was moving.

“We basically found a gap underneath one of the scaffolding uprights, which was cantilevered from the front, so we didn’t want to put any load on that roof. You can’t increase load on failing structures or you would have catastrophic problems .

“There is also another flat roof that needs to be done; so instead of repairs to, and fixing eighty per cent of the roof, we are having to complete one per cent of the roof. We got the go-ahead for this around two weeks ago.

“It’s in the interests of the building to carry out these works, and will unfortunately extend the time the scaffolding on the front. This isn’t ideal but people want beautiful buildings and this will be what they get when we are done”

The company identified water ingress, also known as ‘penetrating damp’, was the main problem for the building.

It has since been repairing and restoring both the facade and structure of the building.

Mr Marshall-Critchley, who is also now a trustee of the Bury St Edmunds Town Trust, has agreed to give talks on the building, and what they have learned, later in the year.

The Greggs building is late Tudor/Georgian era, and its windows are Gothic.

Mr Marshall-Critchley added: “Overall we are making it cleaner, sleeker and more in keeping with its age; while at the same time keeping its future maintenance down and preserving it for hundreds of years to come.”

The building is owned by London-based D&A Limited, according the Land Registry. It is leased to Greggs, which is investing all of the money into the repairs.

Greggs first took over the building when it acquired the Bakers Oven chain in May 1994.

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