Whitbread pub food hygiene rating drops from five to one

14-Feb-2018 - Last updated on 14-Feb-2018 at 15:14 GMT

Score drop: the pub previously received a five-star food-hygiene rating

A West Sussex pub’s food hygiene rating has fallen from five stars to one star due to the “cleanliness and condition of facilities and building”.

The Station Beefeater in Horsham, West Sussex, was inspected on 8 January when officers from Horsham District Council found there were areas that needed improvement.

The pub’s hygienic handling of food, including preparation, cooking, reheating, cooling and storage standards were deemed as good, as was the system or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat.

Major improvement necessary

Evidence that staff knew about food safety was labelled good and the food safety officer had confidence that standards would be maintained in the future.

However, there was major improvement necessary for the cleanliness and condition of facilities and building (including having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand-washing facilities and pest control) to enable good food hygiene.

A spokesperson for the pub said: "In light of our standard protocol, we took the decision to close the site with immediate effect to allow the team to carry out the necessary improvements. We are pleased to note the EHO has since visited the re-opened site and confirmed they were happy with the progress made. We will reapply for a follow-up visit once the standstill period has lapsed."

Advice on hygiene

Hygiene expertise website Food Safety Guru has released advice on how to achieve or retain a level five food hygiene rating.

It said there are three areas where a high score is needed to get that five-star rating:

Compliance with food hygiene and safety procedures. This includes how hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, cooled, stored and what measures are taken to prevent food being contaminated.
Compliance with structural requirements. The condition of the structure of the premises including cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation, equipment and other facilities.
Confidence in management. Food safety hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) system needs to be up to date with the latest legislation and best practice. All paperwork needs to be accurate and up to date and operators need to be demonstrating that they are doing what they say they are doing.

Food Safety Guru advises operators to ensure their HACCP documentation is up to date and their staff are well trained.