BUILDING work in a bakery in North Berwick came crashing to a halt after workmen took out the wrong wall, causing the one in the flat above to drop fully five inches.

The refurbishment work at Greggs on High Street was being carried out as part of the retail firm’s remodelling programme.

But after the wrong wall was taken down, everything was brought to a stop while the company’s structural engineers and legal team were brought in.

Staff due to return to work in the shop were told they would not be allowed in the building for at least two weeks, and East Lothian Council’s buildings inspection officers were brought in to assess the damage.

The shop has now reopened its doors, three weeks behind schedule, after the inspectors gave it the all-clear.

One shop assistant in the store said: “The workmen were in doing the refurbishment, then we were told they took the wrong wall out.

“The wall in the flat upstairs apparently dropped at least five inches, making the whole building unsafe.

“It was a bit of a disaster.” A spokesman for Greggs said that the company had an ambitious shop improvement programme and was remodelling the North Berwick branch as part of it.

He said: “During the course of this project our main contractor encountered a structural complication, which has now been corrected, to the total satisfaction of the local council.

“The shop is due to re-open, slightly later than planned, and we would like to take this opportunity to apologise for any inconvenience caused during this time.”