Sandwich chain Pret A Manger is dedicating one of its shops in Cornmarket to vegetarian and vegan only produce.

From January 27, sandwiches and wraps containing meat will no longer be available at the shop close to Carfax.

But the shop at the other end of Cornmarket will continue to sell both meat and vegetarian and vegan food, including pastries and other snacks.

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There is also a Pret in the Westgate Centre, and it is not yet known if it will make the switch to vegetarian only.

There is now a poster in the window of the shop near Carfax advertising the switch.

A member of staff said: "It's happening in a couple of weeks' time - on January 27 - it will just be vegetarian and vegan after that - no meat but the other Cornmarket Pret will stay as it is."

The sandwich and coffee chain opened its first Veggie Pret in Soho in 2016, and at its peak, there were 10 veggie locations across the UK.

However, it emerged last month that the chain was closing the majority of its vegetarian and vegan cuisine-only stores.

The two surviving Veggie Pret sites in London in Shoreditch and in Soho, where the first site opened.

Oxford Mail:

Out of the 10 green outlets, four have closed down and one, the Canary Wharf site, has rebranded into a regular Pret.

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All employees at the four closed shops have been relocated to other nearby Pret shops.

In a statement from Pret explaining the decision to close the vegetarian branches, the chain said it was driven by the fact vegetarian options were now 'widely available' at all its shops, giving customers less reason to seek out the specialist shops.

A Pret spokesman said earlier: “Over half our menu is vegetarian or vegan, with meat-free and vegan options accounting for one in three of our main meal sales.”

Pret said that the remaining vegetarian branches will serve as an innovation hub for Pret’s green offerings as its focus now is to continue to grow its vegetarian and vegan offerings in every Pret shop.

Oxford Mail:

It added: “More of our customers are choosing veggie options but may not see themselves as full-time vegetarians, so all our shops will continue to offer a majority meat-free and vegan menu and our remaining Veggie Prets will continue to develop new vegan and vegetarian options to be rolled out to our classic Prets.”

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The chain was founded in 1984 and by 2018 was employing 12,000 staff.

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This story was written by Andy Ffrench, he joined the team more than 20 years ago and now covers community news across Oxfordshire.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Andy.ffrench@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter @OxMailAndyF