We pride ourselves on high standards and we are very pleased that our food hygiene rating is 5.

What the rating covers

Ratings are a snapshot of the standards of food hygiene found at the time of inspection. It is the responsibility of the business to comply with food hygiene law at all times.

This includes:

• handling of food
• how food is stored
• how food is prepared
• cleanliness of facilities
• how food safety is managed

The food hygiene rating scheme does not provide information on the following factors:

• quality of the food
• customer service
• culinary skill
• presentation
• comfort

For suspected food poisoning, seek medical advice from your GP and contact your local environmental health or food safety team

Understanding ratings

The rating shows how well the business is doing overall, based on standards found at the time of inspection. The ratings can be found online and on stickers which are displayed at business premises. The back of the sticker and the online rating will also show the date of the inspection by the local authority’s food safety officer.

Ratings are typically given to places where food is supplied, sold or consumed, such as:

• restaurants, pubs and cafes
• takeaways, food vans and stalls
• canteens and hotels
• supermarkets and other food shops
• schools, hospitals and care homes

A food safety officer from the local authority inspects a business to check that it follows food hygiene law so that the food is safe to eat.

At the inspection, the officer will check the following three elements:

• how hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored
• the physical condition of the business –including cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation, pest control and other facilities
• how the business manages ways of keeping food safe, looking at processes, training and systems to ensure good hygiene is maintained. The officer can then assess the level of confidence in standards being maintained in the future

Exemptions

There are two groups of exempt businesses which are inspected by the local authority food safety officer but are not given a food hygiene rating:

• businesses that are low-risk to public health, for example, newsagents, chemist shops or visitor centres selling pre-wrapped goods that do not require refrigeration
• childminders and businesses that offer caring services at home

The rating scale

The hygiene standards found at the time of inspection are then rated on a scale:

• 5 is top of the scale, this means the hygiene standards are very good and fully comply with the law
• 0 is at the bottom of the scale, this means urgent improvement is necessary

To get the top rating, businesses must do well in all three elements which are referenced above. If the top rating is not given, the officer will explain to the business the necessary actions they can take to improve their hygiene rating.

A breakdown of the three elements making up the food hygiene rating for business is also provided with the online rating. This information is available for businesses inspected since April 2016 in England and Northern Ireland and for businesses inspected in Wales since November 2014.

Detailed information is included in the food safety officer’s inspection report. If you want to see this you could make a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the local authority that carried out the inspection. You can find the local authority’s contact details by searching for the business and then clicking on the name of the business.

The local authority will consider your FOI request and will usually send you a copy of the report. In some cases, the local authority may decide that they cannot do so but will let you know this and explain why. Any concerns relating to a business’s food safety can be reported to the local food safety team who are responsible for the business. You can find the local authority’s contact details by searching for the business and then clicking on the name of the business.