A café in a busy central London Tube station has been told to make an “urgent improvement” to its hygiene standards after inspectors found mouldy food in its fridge.
Council inspectors handed Temple Bar Café in Temple station a food hygiene rating of zero out of five after finding "unfit food" in a fridge and a wash basin which had not been plumbed in, a food hygiene report shows.
Westminster City Council officials visited the café on February 11. They found two open yoghurt tubs with best before dates of December 23 2024 and January 23 2025. Both had mould growing in them and a "bad smell". They also found a separate container of mouldy tomato and mascarpone sauce.
Staff were found to be unaware of food allergens or have paperwork showing whether they appeared in food being offered on the menu.
They also found tubs and bottles without proper labelling and a bottle of mayonnaise and Cajun sauce left at room temperature, which the inspector said could result in the growth of bacteria like Salmonella.
An inspector said "unfit" food in the rear fridge showed weekly checks by staff "have no/little veracity'".
Inspectors said they would visit the café again four weeks later and warned further non-compliance would result in a hygiene improvement notice. This is a legal notice requiring a business to make changes within a certain timeframe.
The officials also found cooked meat left out at room temperature, an electric insect killer not working, “structural disrepair” in the kitchen and food safety management paperwork not filled in properly.
They said they did not see the manager wash his hands during the inspection and warned against keeping the front door open, saying it created a risk of pests such as mice, rats, flies and pigeons entering. No pests were seen during the inspection.
Temple Bar Café has a rating of 2.9 out of five from customers on TripAdvisor. In November, one wrote: "New owners. Hiked prices. Door open in all weathers because kitchen extractors not working - this has been going on for weeks. I have been coming here for years. No more."
In April, another wrote: "2 out of 5, very slow, not clean. Not enough staff and outside tables always dirty and looks very dated, not inviting. This place has potential but not the way it is, need improvement in many ways."
However, another, who gave five stars, wrote: "Delicious hot curry! Totally unexpected due to location. Very fair London prices and would definitely recommend if you fancy something tasty and hot! Very friendly staff!"
The shop has a Google rating of 4.2 stars. Bhavinkumar Inamdar and Krish Aziz Virani have run the café since October 1, 2024, according to Companies House.
Temple Bar Café was contacted for comment but had not replied at the time of publication.
