Greggs has unveiled plans to spend £20 million in the north west, with a new bakery and shops. Some of the shops will be located at out-of-town retail parks and one will be built at Manchester Airport to tap into changing customer demands.

The new £15m bakery at Openshaw, east Manchester, will open next year and north west managing director Ian Pegg said Greggs would open some of its city-centre shops until the early hours of the morning and on Sundays. Ten new shops are planned this year, including one at the airport’s Terminal 1, and a further 12 in 2009.

Meanwhile, the company is to increase its spending on advertising by 50% to £4.5m this year and run three bursts of a TV campaign, fronted by comedian Paddy McGuinness. Marketing director Scott Jefferson told British Baker the increased ad spend was part of the company’s drive to build a global brand in the face of "unprecedented cost rises". He said: "We are in year two of that plan and are now competing on a national and global level."

He said between 70% and 80% of the budget would be spent on the ads fronted by Phoenix Nights star, McGuinness, whose "good, honest, down-to-earth humour" was ideal for promoting the Greggs brand.

Jefferson said there will be three waves of TV advertising this year.

Leeds-based agency Propa-ganda will again be devising a campaign to reposition the Greggs brand, he added, emphasising that the company would "not be straying far" from its core business of sandwiches and savouries.