A Leicester gurdwara has notched up a four star food hygiene rating after refitting its kitchen and retraining its staff.
The Leicester Sikh Centre in Clarendon Park Road has made the improvements after inspectors from Leicester City Council last year gave it zero stars - the lowest possible rating.
Chip shop owner Nim Gill was brought in as a food safety consultant after the failed inspection. He invited the Mercury into the kitchen to see the improvements that have been made.
He said: “That zero star rating gave us a real knock, to be honest. Things shouldn’t have got as bad as they did, but they did. We were determined to put it right.
“One of the problems was that the people working in the kitchens were volunteers. They hadn’t had the training they should have, but now they have got that and things are much better. A good few thousand pounds has been invested in the kitchen."
Of the latest, four star, rating, he said: "We would have got five stars, but to get that we would have had to do some major work costing £30,000 or £40,000. We are working towards that to get us the five stars.”
Mr Gill added: “Food is a really important part of Sikh culture. Anyone can just walk in off the street and get three meals a day here providing they are not drunk or rowdy, and stick to our rules. We want to make people welcome. At the weekends we can feed up to 2,000 people. That’s why are glad we have got the kitchen sorted.”
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) helps you choose where to eat out or shop for food by telling you how seriously the business takes their food hygiene standards. The scheme is run by local authorities in England, Northern Ireland and Wales and applies to restaurants, pubs, cafes, takeaways, hotels, supermarkets and other places where food is served or sold.
