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Greene King fined £152,000 for food hygiene failings
UK pub operator and brewer Greene King has been fined over £152,000 following “a number of food hygiene failings” discovered at the company’s pub the Tredegar Arms in Newport in July last year.
Image: Newport Council.
The Suffolk-based brewer pleaded guilty to seven charges of food hygiene failings at Newport Magistrates’ Court on 9 November.
Publishing the news on its website, Newport Council said that health inspectors found “poor standards of cleaning, including dirty fridges, ovens and chopping boards”.
The pub was inspected on 17 July and 20 July 2017. As well as unclean food premises and equipment, out of date food was also found, including around 12kg of sausages which were over two weeks out of date.
A part-cooked chicken was also found stored “at temperatures that would allow bacteria to grow”.
Greene King pleaded guilty, apologised for the incident and agreed to pay the council’s legal costs totalling £13,000. The pub now has a Food Hygiene Rating of four (out of five) after addressing the issues discovered last year.
Councillor Ray Truman, the council’s cabinet member for licensing and regulation said: “Officers from environmental health were extremely concerned to find a pub operated by such a large company in such a condition and it was appropriate for the council to take the company to court in order to reinforce the message that food hygiene must be taken seriously.
“The issues found at the pub had the potential to make customers seriously ill. I am grateful to the member of the public who contacted the council with their concerns and for the hard work of officers in bringing this case to court”.
A spokesperson for the Tredegar Arms told the South Wales Argus: “The rating for which this fine relates to was 18 months ago. It occurred during a period of just a few days during a management change-over.
“Up until this point the pub held the best possible food hygiene rating.
“We took immediate action at the time to rectify the situation and re-instate our usual high standards.
“The pub has since had a number of inspections and we are pleased to say it has held a four star rating for over a year”.