A dog-friendly cafe in Whiston was given a zero in a food hygiene inspection barely a year after it had been told it needed major improvement.
Paws for Tea, based in Henley Park, was given a hygiene rating of zero out of five after inspectors visited the cafe at the end of March, a year after it had been given a rating of one out of five.
Details published this week show hygiene inspectors found “urgent improvement” was required in the cafe’s management of food safety, while “major improvement” was needed in hygienic food handling and the cleanliness of the building.
However, the owners said that when inspectors returned a week later they expressed “no concerns” with the business.
Although the full report of March’s inspection has not yet been made available, the award of a zero star rating showed conditions at Paws for Tea had deteriorated since the previous inspection in February 2020.
After that visit, inspectors rated the cafe one out of five and expressed concern about how food was being stored and how clean the premises were.
In its report from last year, inspectors said raw food such as bacon was being stored next to cooked food - a potential hazard - and pre-packed food was being kept past its use-by date.
They added that there was no hot water in the hand wash basin in the kitchen, and it was “unclear during the inspection that the premises was being disinfected properly”.
Inspectors also noted that “quite a lot of grease is being put down the sinks” which had the potential to block the drains and reminded the cafe’s owners that their waste had to be disposed of by a licensed waste carrier and they could not do this themselves.
Neither the most recent report nor details of any subsequent improvements have yet been made available.
Cafe bosses did not wish to add any further comments when approached by the ECHO.
