4 Bromley restaurants with zero food hygiene rating – and 73 other places to eat including pubs, cafes, takeaways and hotels needing ‘major improvement’

Our photo gallery above shows 77 of the restaurants, cafes, takeaways, pubs, shops and hotels that have scored zero or just one star after inspections.

All the details were correct as of April 8 based on information publicly available on the government’s Food Standards Agency website.

(Since the article was originally published, several business owners have been in touch about their scores - scroll down to read their responses)

The ratings have been given to businesses to reflect the standards of food hygiene found when they were inspected by food safety officers from Bromley Council over the past couple of years.

Inspectors check the following three elements:

1. How hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored

2. The condition of the structure of the buildings – the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities

3. How the business manages what it does to make sure food is safe and so that the officer can be confident standards will be maintained in the future

Browse through all the photos above to see the four restaurants given the lowest, zero stars (urgent improvement necessary), rating and 73 others awarded one-star ratings (major improvement needed) from a maximum score of five.

It is possible some of the businesses featured are awaiting new inspections, have changed management since being inspected or have closed in the interim.

RESPONSES TO THE RATINGS:

Daniel Hibberd, landlord of The Fox in Keston, said of his pub's one-star rating: "The score we were given was because there was no EHO file on site at the time of the visit and nothing to do with the cleanliness of our kitchens. Our head chef had taken the paperwork and file home to update it.

"Our kitchens are regularly deep-cleaned and all our staff are fully trained. We have since contacted Bromley Council and urged them to come and re-evaluate as we take great pride in what we do and own another food-led buisness in the Bromley borough which is operated in exactly the same manor where we maintain four stars."

Gavin Boyer, operating partner of the Cow and Pig in Bromley, said: "To clarify the situation regarding our one-star score, we have actually been appealing this rating since December as our score was not reflective of the hygiene or cleanliness of the restaurant but due to the fact that we had our fridge temperature records locked in the main office (due to a spate of burglaries within the area, all paperwork was locked away).

"Unfortunately our inspection took place over the festive period and first thing in the morning and as our management team had worked late looking after the Christmas parties from the night before no manager was on-site to provide them with the records immediately. Unfortunately the inspector wasn't able to wait the 15 minutes it would have taken for me to get to the restaurant to show them the records, so this is a straight red flag and one-point score.

"I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that the kitchen and standards throughout the restaurant are impeccable and as mentioned I have requested them to visit again, so hopefully this will be overturned shortly." 

We will update this page further with any responses submitted by the food outlets mentioned.