A leading bakery firm with stores across Powys is the latest high-street firm to be experiencing supply chain issues.

Bosses at Greggs moved to re-assure customers after reports of shortages of chicken bakes nationwide, while yesterday one store in Worcester was forced to close for several hours due to supply issues.

Other high street chains including McDonald's, KFC and Nando's have hit by disruption blamed on a range of issues linked both to Brexit and the pandemic.

"There are no current supply issues with our chicken bakes and our customers can continue to enjoy these as they usually would," said a spokesperson.

"Unfortunately, like others, we’re seeing temporary interruptions in supply for some ingredients which occasionally results in shops not being able to maintain full availability on all lines.

"The products lines change day-to-day.

"However, we have a wide range of choices in our menu for customers happy to buy an alternative."

A number of issues have been blamed for the shortages, including a post-Brexit shortage of lorry drivers and supply chain interruptions caused by people self isolating due to covid.

Earlier this week McDonalds was forced to take milkshakes off the menu while chicken restaurant Nandos was forced to close 45 stores due to a chicken shortage.

In a statement earlier this month, The British Poultry Council said there was a labour crisis in the poultry industry, which it says is facing a significant shortage of workers across farming and processing, with businesses reporting an average vacancy rate of over 16% of their total workforce.

British Poultry Council Chief Executive, Richard Griffiths, said: "Members are telling us that many have been forced to cut back weekly chicken production by 5-10%, all year-round turkey production by 10% and estimate Christmas turkey production to be cut down by a 20%.

"They are saying they are currently producing a reduced range of products for UK customers, and are seriously concerned that the supply of staple chicken products will be impacted. This is all down to labour shortages.

"UK food security will be hit with a double whammy of food inflation and being forced to rely on more imported food. This can only lead to a two-tier food system where high-quality British food is out of reach for many struggling consumers."