Dirty pub kitchen lands boss with fine

EH officers were concerned about the state of the Robin Hood Inn’s franchised kitchen, which was then managed by Stephen Hull, after visiting it in June 2014.

The kitchen’s surfaces, microwaves and cooker were dirty, as well as the refrigerators, which were also rusty, EH said. Walls and sockets were also dirty and paint was flaking from the ceilings.

No improvements were made following a further inspection by EH in October of the same year.

Hull, who could not be contacted at the time of publication and no longer runs the kitchen, was also storing raw minced beef next to ham and cheese rolls, Dudley Magistrates Court was told earlier this month.

Staff hadn’t been trained​

Staff hadn’t been trained in hygiene and there were no food safety management systems in place.

As a result, Hull was ordered by the court to pay a £1,800 fine along with costs of £1,068 and a £30 victim surcharge after admitting to six offences under the food hygiene regulations.

Councillor Rachel Harris, Dudley’s cabinet member responsible for health, said: “While we prefer to work with businesses to make sure they abide by the law, we will not hesitate to take legal action against any food business owners who do not take our advice on board and who fail to meet their legal responsibilities.

“Nearly half of all food outlets in the borough are achieving the top hygiene rating of five and the vast majority achieve a satisfactory rating of three or more. I would urge consumers to check out hygiene ratings online as these will give consumers a glimpse of what is going on in the kitchen when they eat out, or behind the scenes at the places they shop.”

The Robin Hood Inn received a hygiene rating of one out of five at the time of the inspections last year. Nobody from the pub was available to speak to the Publican’s Morning Advertiser ​at the time of publication.

Meanwhile, pubs and bars outperformed restaurants, cafés and canteens in the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA’s) food hygiene broad compliance​ report, which was released last month.

The report compiled data from local authorities about food law enforcement activity across the country.

Pubs increased hygiene rating​

Data gathered by local authorities showed pubs had increased their hygiene ratings on average by 1% to 96% for the 12 months between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2015, compared with the same period in the previous 12 months.

However, restaurants, cafés and canteens didn’t increase their average hygiene rating from 90% when compared with the same period last year, the report showed.

Steve Osborn, principal consultant for food and beverage at the Aurora Ceres Partnership, said: “Over the past few decades, the increase in ‘eating out’ has resulted in change.

“Pubs have become family-centred dining experiences, rather than watering holes, and with that comes a different and higher expectation from consumers. The pub sector has also come under competition from other food service sectors that have adopted much stronger corporate attitudes to food safety.”

Pubs and restaurants also outperformed the food sector as a whole, which had an average hygiene rating of 93%.