Filth and squalor on a grand scale at pub

The owners of the Castle Hotel have been fined more than £44,000 after an inspection found the kitchen floor littered with food and cutlery and covered with grease, dirt and water.

Among the many health and safety hazards at the premises were holes in the floor and ceiling, cobwebs in cupboards, a leaking deep-fat fryer, a dirty clingfilm dispenser, dirty tiles, a salad bar in full use even though it had been fitted with red “do not use” labels, and even a defunct plug socket from which the head chef received an electric shock.

The offences related to two separate visits between July 2007 and April 2008. The pub on the Worcester Road is now under new management and staff there have since been retrained.

At Worcester Magistrates Court, Spirit Group, which owns the Castle Hotel, admitted charges of contravening health and safety regulations, failing to keep the premises clean and maintained, and breaching an improvement notice.

Sentencing, District Judge Bruce Morgan said he was amazed more members of staff had not injured themselves and no customers had contracted food poisoning.

“There is no defence to say none of the customers complained,” he said.

“If members of the public had gone into that kitchen the restaurant would have looked like the Marie Celeste because nobody would have wanted to eat anything there.

“Anyone going into that kitchen would have seen filth and squalor on a grand scale and the fact the chefs were willing to work there is quite surprising.”

The court heard the premises was not shut down because the law states there needs to be an immediate risk to someone’s health or an infestation, but there wasn’t.

Alan Fuller, prosecuting on behalf of Wychavon District Council, said the kitchen was filthy.

“This sort of build-up is from far more than just a busy weekend,” he said.

In mitigation, Mr Hodgson said there had been a high management turnover at both local and regional level during the period in question. Problems with electrical appliances had been reported but there had been issues with a contractor.

The court heard that Spirit Group had been charged with 87 food safety offences and 25 health and safety offences at various premises across the country in the last five years, although there was a change of directorship in 2006.

Mr Morgan said: “It’s quite appalling people operate these premises and put the public at risk.

“This company has been doing this sort of thing for the last five years and it would seem they have learned absolutely nothing at all. It simply cannot be allowed to continue.”

He fined the company £32,250 and made it pay all £11,784 court costs.

After the hearing a Spirit Group spokeswoman said: "We would like to reassure customers that this is not representative of the current high standards at the Castle. Since these incidents were brought to our attention we have appointed a new management team and retrained kitchen staff on our health and safety procedures.

“Our main priority is to ensure that we always deliver a high quality experience to our customers and we have comprehensive health and safety processes in place in all of our pubs, which include independent audits of our kitchens.”