'Burnt, inedible' Xmas dinner at zero hygiene rating pub slammed

Several diners who visited the Original Masons, Walbottle, took to TripAdvisor to air their complaints about the pub, which they claimed had served sub-standard food. Many also claimed they were left waiting for their meals for up to three hours.

TripAdvisor user Leona83newburn said: “Where do I start, the burnt food that was served after a three-hour wait, or the bits of turkey on my beef dinner or the invisible management taking a back seat while the young servers took the flack… totally ruined Christmas Day for me and my family.”

Fellow customer Lee Dyer posted: “Terrible. Took 3 hours to be served a burnt, inedible meal. I’m convinced some of the food on my plate was leftovers from somebody else’s plate. I had beef but there were bits of half eaten turkey stuck to my burnt Yorkshire pudding.”

The Original Masons currently holds a zero food hygiene rating, which attributing body the Food Standards Agency (FSA) says means urgent improvement of hygiene standards is necessary.

Unwashed​

Last week local newspaper The Chronicle ​reported that one woman, whose family paid £50 a head for their Christmas meals, were served food on mismatched and unwashed plates roughly two hours after ordering.

She allegedly asked the management to refund her meal, which totalled approximately £500, but was told such an amount could not be authorised.

A follow-up meeting with the management to discuss the refund was reportedly arranged but promptly cancelled by the pub who said a refund would not happen.

The Original Masons was not available for comment at the time of publication.

Outperformed​

However, pubs and bars outperformed the restaurant sector in the FSA's most recent food hygiene broad compliance report​.

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

Dr Lisa Ackerley, food safety advisor to the British Hospitality Association (BHA), told The​ Publican's Morning Advertiser ​ she thought the food hygiene ratings scheme had been very successful in driving up standards across the pub sector.