NORTH East bakery giant Greggs is to sell frozen sausage rolls to the retail chain Iceland following a successful three-month trial.

The popular branded cook-at-home product, which was originally available at 10 locations, will be rolled out at 700 shops across the UK.

The news came as the Newcastle- based company said that demand for cut-price sausage rolls, and a new range of doughnuts, helped it to buck the gloom on the high street.

The business which has more than 1,500 stores saw like-for-like sales increase 0.8% in the 13 weeks to October 1, up from 0.4% in the previous six months.

Greggs said it was excited about the launch of the new Superstar Doughnuts just five weeks ago.

Around 1.5m had been bought and eaten.

With flavours such as Jaffa Cake, strawberry milkshake and triple chocolate, the company said they had proved to be “extremely popular” with the hope that sales will rise to more than 2m.

Later this month a range of Halloween products will also be launched such as a “slime doughnut” with a bright lime-green filling.

But against the backdrop of a resilient performance in a difficult economic climate, chief executive Ken McMeikan said: “High-street footfall is down, but people are still coming into our shops”.

He said that promotions such as a sandwich and a drink from £1.89, four sausage rolls for £2.30 and two steak bakes for £2 were proving popular in the current situation.

“In a tough environment we have increased our investment in promotional activity, offering a range of outstanding meal deals that help our customers make their money go further. We continue to see a good growth in breakfast sales,” he said.