Spirit Group fined for hygiene breaches at Stratford pub
Spirit Group has been fined £29,500 after being found guilty of eight food hygiene breaches at the Wobbly Wheel pub near Warmington, Warwickshire.
The offences related to three visits by environmental health officers (EHOs) from Stratford-on-Avon District Council early last year. The pub was sold by Spirit to Whitbread in April 2008, and now operates under the Brewers Fayre brand.
Stratford Magistrates Court awarded the council £3,296 as well as imposing the fine.
The court heard that the visits by the EHOs found that levels of cleanliness at the pub were unacceptable and that Spirit's procedures for managing the food safety side of the business were not being followed.
Issues included the same food stains being seen on the walls and the floor of the walk-in chiller on each visit, maggots in the corridor between the kitchen and the walk-in chiller and debris from a structural repair carried-out six days previously still on the floor.
The court was told that despite efforts by the council's officers to secure improvements, the company made little progress.
The council's portfolio holder for environment, Cllr Simon Jackson said: "The level of the fine imposed by the magistrates in this case demonstrates the seriousness with which breaches of food hygiene are taken.
"The company failed in their duty to manage food hygiene and in doing so compromised public safety."
Under its new ownership, the Wobbly Wheel has been given a gold award for food safety under the council's Scores on the Doors scheme.
A Spirit spokesperson: "The Spirit Group is committed to delivering the highest standards of hygiene in all of our pubs. The company has comprehensive training and health and safety processes in place, which include independent audits of our kitchens.
"We have learned significantly from this experience, and have taken these learnings forward as a business.
"We would like to stress that this was an isolated incident that is not representative of our commitment to our customers and the high standards delivered by our pub teams every day."
